After a successful suspension, Liège withdraws the award — and in the restart awards the contract to the original challenger
The Council of State holds the annulment action by Liège Dépannage et Services moot after the City of Liège, following a successful extreme-urgency suspension by that same bidder, withdrew its award to U.C. Automobiles, restarted the procedure and ultimately awarded the contract to Liège Dépannage itself — but still grants the challenger a €700 procedural indemnity.
What happened?
On 30 October 2020 the Liège municipal college awarded a two-lot public contract for the towing and storage of vehicles on its territory to the SRL U.C. Automobiles. Competing tow firm Liège Dépannage et Services filed an extreme-urgency challenge on 8 January 2021. Judgment 249.563 of 22 January 2021 suspended the award. On 19 February 2021 the college withdrew the 30 October decision entirely, renounced the award to U.C. Automobiles and restarted the procurement. On 11 June 2021 the college awarded the two lots to Liège Dépannage et Services itself — the original challenger. U.C. Automobiles then attacked that new award by extreme urgency, but was rejected (judgment 251.330 of 30 July 2021) and brought no annulment action. The Council holds the 19 February 2021 withdrawal definitive, which moots the annulment action against the original award. Crucially: withdrawal is treated as a 'succédané' of annulment, so the claimant wins costs — €200 roll right, €20 contribution and a €700 basic procedural indemnity are charged to the City of Liège; intervening U.C. Automobiles bears its own €150 intervention fee. No indemnity uplift is due because the act was withdrawn (Article 67 §2 third paragraph of the Regent's Decree of 23 August 1948).
Why does this matter?
For bid managers this is a textbook example of what usually happens after you win an extreme-urgency action: the authority withdraws rather than defending an annulment, restarts the procedure, and the annulment action itself loses object. That feels like a formal loss — it isn't. You recover the €700 basic procedural indemnity because withdrawal counts as a succédané of annulment. And, more importantly, the restart gives you a fair second shot — which here even produced an award to the challenger. For authorities: withdrawing after a successful suspension is administratively sensible (you avoid a long annulment and extra cost exposure) — but if you want the withdrawal itself to become final, serve it on all bidders with the remedies, deadlines and forms, so nobody can re-litigate it within 60 days.
The lesson
Winning extreme urgency and then watching the authority withdraw does not mean you 'lose' on annulment. In your annulment petition expressly claim the procedural indemnity; the withdrawal counts as succédané and you will receive the €700 base plus the court fees.
Ask yourself
You won an extreme-urgency suspension, the authority withdrew and restarted: did you update your annulment petition to at least claim the procedural indemnity and costs? That qualifies as succédané of annulment — you will get them automatically.
About this database
The Council of State (Raad van State / Conseil d'État) is Belgium's supreme administrative court. In disputes over public procurement — from contract awards to tenderer exclusions — the Council of State is the final arbiter. The rulings in this database are summarised by TenderWolf in plain language, with practical lessons for tenderers and contracting authorities. View all rulings →