Three months after winning extreme urgency, the suspension is gone: those who don't file annulment undo their own success
Less than three months after forcing extreme-urgency suspension of the City of Beringen's award for the Beverlo cemetery-park infrastructure to V&V Infra, the Council of State lifts that same suspension — because the applicant failed to file an annulment appeal, and the old version of Article 17(4) of the coordinated laws leaves the Council no choice.
What happened?
On 28 November 2024, the college of mayor and aldermen of the City of Beringen awarded the public works contract for 'infrastructure works for a park cemetery in Beverlo' to V&V Infra (Hasselt). An unsuccessful bidder — identified anonymously as 'bvba A.' and represented by lawyers Peeters and Vereecke (Turnhout) — filed on 17 December 2024 an extreme-urgency suspension request (UDN). That procedure moved fast. By ruling no. 261.988 of 14 January 2025, the president of the XIVth Chamber ordered the suspension of the award's execution. Victory, briefly, for bvba A.: the City could not sign the contract with V&V Infra. V&V Infra, previously accepted as intervening party, was sidelined. Then something decisive happened — or rather, didn't. After winning UDN suspension, the applicant must file an annulment application within the statutory deadline to pursue the substantive case. Bvba A. did not do so. No annulment. No substantive proceedings. Article 17(4), third paragraph, of the coordinated laws (in the version applicable here — the regime prior to the 2016 reforms) provides that in such case the Council is 'required' to lift the suspension. No discretion. President Debersaques applied the written procedure (Article 26(2) of the Regent's Decree): on 17 February 2025 he proposed to parties that the case be handled without public hearing unless a party requested one. None did. The ruling of 9 April 2025 is short and unambiguous: the suspension ordered in ruling 261.988 is lifted. The way is again clear for the City to contract with V&V Infra. Costs are interesting: the City — the respondent who had lost in January — bears the UDN costs (€200 filing fee + €24 contribution + €770 procedural indemnity). V&V Infra bears its own intervention costs (€150). Bvba A. thus keeps a small monetary 'win' from its brief success, but the contract is definitively lost.
Why does this matter?
This ruling shows exactly what happens when the warning in cases like RvS 262.868 is ignored: the applicant won its UDN battle, but by failing to file annulment, it threw the whole thing away. The suspension was lifted not for any substantive weakness, but purely procedurally — because the law requires it. For bid managers, the cost-benefit becomes immediately visible: the effort and expense of a successful UDN are meaningless without follow-up via annulment. For bidders challenging awards AND for contracting authorities hit with a suspension, it is essential to understand that 'buying time' through UDN without a substantive case is an extremely temporary victory — and ultimately yields no result.
The lesson
If your UDN suspension is granted: that victory is conditional. You MUST file an annulment appeal within the statutory deadline (sixty days from notification of the challenged decision), otherwise the Council lifts its own suspension — whether ordered or not, without a hearing. Diary the annulment deadline when you file the UDN, not after the UDN ruling. The success of your UDN changes nothing about that deadline; it runs from notification of the award, not from the UDN decision.
Ask yourself
Have you obtained UDN suspension of an award decision? Verify today whether your annulment appeal has been filed. Check three points: (1) is there a second docket number linked to your case on the Council's website? (2) were the annulment filing fees (€224) paid in time? (3) does the filing fall within the sixty-day deadline from notification of the award? If any of the three raises doubt: contact your lawyer today.
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 →