Selection
Qualitative selection assesses whether candidates have the required competence, experience and capacity. This includes the verification of references, accreditations, certificates and the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD).
Suspension of rejection of weed control tender for blank ESPD — excessive formalism in case of material error when completed ESPD had been submitted three days earlier for comparable contract with same municipality
The Council of State suspends the award decision of the Municipality of Riemst which excluded the tender of BV Groenbeheer Baart for weed control 2024-2026 due to submission of a blank ESPD, because the municipality appears to have exceeded the limits of reasonableness by rejecting the tender without further investigation while it had received a fully completed ESPD from the same tenderer three days earlier in the context of a comparable contract with identical selection criteria, and the tenderer had immediately reported the error and pointed to the previously submitted ESPD.
Suspension of non-selection for container transport due to insufficient motivation — decision fails to mention that tenderer had meanwhile obtained and transmitted required approval
The Council of State suspends the decision of Intradel not to select SCES Recol'Terre for lot 4 of a public services contract for container transport and emptying at recycling parks, because the motivation for the non-selection is insufficient: at the time of the decision, Recol'Terre had meanwhile obtained the required approval as transporter of asbestos-cement and transmitted it to Intradel, but the decision makes no mention of this document and gives no reasons why it was not taken into consideration.
Suspension rejected for Sint Martinus Church organ restoration in Aalst: selection criterion requiring master's degree in wood conservation proportionate and relevant
The Council of State rejects the urgent suspension application by Orgelbau Schumacher against its non-selection and the award of the organ restoration of Sint Martinus Church in Aalst to TM Monument Vandekerckhove – Altritempi, finding the selection criterion requiring a master's degree in Wood Conservation/Restoration for the person leading the restoration works to be relevant and proportionate given the subject matter, and Schumacher itself having acknowledged it cannot meet this criterion.
Council of State suspends award of asbestos removal works — SPF Employment approval for asbestos removal cannot replace SPW approval as collector of hazardous waste
The Council of State orders suspension of the University of Mons' decision to award an asbestos removal works contract to RE.DE.CO., because the four highest-ranked tenderers did not hold the approval required by the specifications (SPW approval as collector of hazardous waste), having produced an SPF Employment approval for asbestos removal — a different approval for which no equivalence was announced — and having furthermore ticked 'No' on the ESPD regarding reliance on the capacity of other entities.
Council of State rejects application for suspension under extreme urgency against non-selection in lockable safe framework agreement for Integrated Police — four pleas not serious
The Council of State rejects the application for suspension under extreme urgency brought by SA Sevadepannages against its non-selection in a framework agreement for lockable safes for the Integrated Police (defence and security), finding all four pleas — single candidacy, turnover figures of a competitor, unannounced evaluation method and lack of framework agreement value estimation — not serious.
Annulment appeal rendered moot after withdrawal of SNCB railway station cleaning contract award and selection — costs borne by SNCB
The Council of State finds there is no longer any reason to rule on the annulment appeal by SA ISS Facility Services against the selection of Jette Clean and the award of lots 1 and 3 of the SNCB railway station and service building cleaning contract, as the SNCB withdrew the award decision on 4 June 2021 and renounced the award of those lots — the withdrawal having become definitive in the absence of an annulment appeal.
Suspension request for VRT occupational health service contract rejected: innovation assessment within broadly formulated award criterion not unlawful
The Council of State rejects the suspension application under extreme urgency by VZW Premed against VRT's award of an External Service for Prevention and Protection at Work contract to VZW IDEWE, finding none of the three pleas serious — neither the alleged unlawful inclusion of 'attention to innovation' as an assessment element, nor the claimed substantial irregularity due to a sustainability scan, nor the alleged failure to meet the selection criterion regarding public sector experience.
Loss of a chance compensated at 50%: legal error in rejecting an insurance certificate is not a purely formal defect
The Council of State awards reparatory damages of EUR 28,126.32 to a tenderer excluded from a public works contract, finding that the contracting authority's legal error — rejecting an insurance certificate solely because it was dated after the bid opening — resulted in a 50% loss of a chance of obtaining the contract.
This page shows all rulings of the Council of State (Belgium's supreme administrative court) on selection in public procurement. Each ruling is summarized by TenderWolf in plain language, with a legal lesson and a practical question to ask yourself. View all rulings →