Staying silent after a suspension cost COCOF the contract: the authority failed to request continuation and the suspended award was annulled without further debate
Because COCOF did not request continuation within thirty days of the suspension ruling, the Council of State automatically annuls the award to TPF Utilities via the short procedure — the unclear tender document clauses on clearing existing non-conformities now count definitively against the contracting authority.
What happened?
COCOF (Commission communautaire française) awarded a services contract on 14 December 2023 for maintenance, periodic inspection and repair of thermal, air-conditioning and cooling installations in its buildings to TPF Utilities. Equans Services' bid was declared substantially irregular because Equans had included a reservation on one specific point: who must bear, within the fixed maintenance price, the cost of clearing existing observations and non-conformities previously noted by accredited bodies? Equans had raised this question during the tender procedure. COCOF's answers suggested the bidder had to include it in the fixed price — yet the tender document itself suggested the opposite (title II.6 even explicitly stated that "the contractor is not liable for defects in installations whose cause is other than the performance of its contractual obligations"). COCOF also failed to provide the requested accredited-body reports in time, and later admitted that "the installations covered by the contract were not subjected to the legally required conformity checks." Equans filed for suspension and annulment on 24 January 2024. In judgment No. 258,950 of 28 February 2024 the Council of State ruled the first limb of the first plea — breach of the transparency principle under article 4 of the Public Procurement Act of 17 June 2016 — to be serious, and suspended execution of the award. Then something remarkable happened: neither COCOF nor TPF Utilities requested continuation of the procedure within thirty days. The auditor-rapporteur requested application of article 11/2 of the general rules of procedure. The registry informed the parties that the chamber would decide on annulment unless someone requested a hearing — no one did. On 13 September 2024 the Council of State definitively annuls the award, referring to the grounds of the suspension ruling. The tender document could have been saved by clear pricing instructions; instead, silence after the suspension cost COCOF the contract plus 994 euros in costs and procedural indemnity to Equans.
Why does this matter?
Many bid managers and contracting officers believe a suspension ruling is "temporary" and that the award can still be put right afterwards. That is wrong. Article 17, § 6 of the coordinated laws on the Council of State is clear: if the respondent or an interested party fails to request continuation within thirty days of a suspension ruling, the chamber can annul the contested decision directly through the short procedure — without any new debate on the merits. For contracting authorities this means: after a suspension, you have thirty days to decide whether to continue the case or withdraw the decision and redo it. Sitting on your hands is not an option, because the annulment follows automatically. For bidders who obtained a suspension, the flip side: don't politely remind the other side of this deadline — an authority that lets it lapse is handing you the annulment for free.
The lesson
If you receive a suspension ruling against your award as a contracting authority, immediately set two deadlines: (1) within thirty days, decide whether to request continuation (otherwise automatic annulment follows via article 17, § 6 + article 11/2), and (2) within the same period, assess whether withdrawal and a fresh procedure is a better option than pressing on with a plea the Council already deemed "serious." Don't request continuation out of habit: if the plea was declared serious, you normally also lose on the merits — and pay a second procedural indemnity on top.
Ask yourself
Has your organisation received a suspension ruling? Count thirty days from service. If no formal decision on continuation or withdrawal has been taken in that period, the award is exposed to automatic annulment and you risk a fresh procedural indemnity on top of what you already paid.
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 →