What if the Council of State annuls a Royal Decree six days before your contract award?
The Council of State suspends a re-awarded public contract because the Province of Liège withdrew its first award to Onefield ICT and reassigned it to a competitor after the retroactive annulment of the Royal Decree on accreditation classes, without first inviting the bidder to rely on the capacity of an affiliated group company.
What happened?
The Province of Liège tendered a works contract for wifi cabling in provincial schools, divided into two lots, via a negotiated procedure with prior publication. The specifications required class 1 accreditation in subcategory P1, referring to the 162,000 EUR threshold introduced by the Royal Decree of 14 April 2024. Onefield ICT was awarded lot 1 on 18 December 2025. But six days earlier, on 12 December 2025, the Council of State (judgment 265.188) had annulled that very Royal Decree retroactively, restoring the older, lower thresholds. Suddenly Onefield ICT's class 1 accreditation no longer covered its offer amount. The Province withdrew the original award on 12 February 2026 and reassigned both lots to Cable & Network — even though Onefield ICT had explicitly offered, on 30 January, to rely on the accreditation of a sister company (Onefield IB-Technics, class 4 P1). The Council of State suspends the new award: the Province failed to motivate why it rejected the third-party capacity option, and the specifications continued referring to the annulled threshold, violating equality and transparency principles.
Why does this matter?
Accreditation rules rarely change — but when they change retroactively through judicial annulment, every ongoing procedure becomes unstable. The ruling gives bid managers two anchors: a Council of State annulment works ex tunc, so all awards issued under the annulled rule have a legality problem; and contracting authorities cannot simply flip an award — they must hear the affected bidder on alternatives (third-party capacity under article 78 of the law of 17 June 2016) and visibly motivate the outcome.
The lesson
If your winning offer suddenly fails an accreditation criterion between announcement and notification because of regulatory change, immediately submit a written request to rely on the capacity of a third party (article 78 law 17/06/2016). Name the third party, attach proof of accreditation. That forces the contracting authority to address the option in its final decision — silence becomes a motivation defect.
Ask yourself
Has the Council of State recently annulled a Royal Decree or rule cited in your specifications (accreditation, thresholds, social criteria)? Scan Council of State judgments from the last 60 days for your contract type. If your specifications cite annulled amounts or classes, that supports a restart argument or a third-party capacity claim.
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 →