Technical specifications included in the tender documents need to be formulated in compliance with the fundamental principles of non-discrimination, transparency, competition and proportionality. In particular, they cannot constitute an unjustified obstacle to opening up the market. Furthermore, technical criteria for all procurement intended for use by natural persons should take into account accessibility for disabled persons.
They are formulated in terms of sufficiently clear and detailed performance or functional requirements, by reference to international or common standards (by decreasing order of precedence) or by using combinations of both methods. References to international or common technical standards in the tender documents, always need to be followed expressly by the words "or equivalent".
Lastly, tender specifications cannot refer to a specific origin or production method which characterizes the products or services provided by a specific company, nor can they refer to trademarks, patents, types or a specific origin or production with the effect of favouring or eliminating certain undertakings or certain products, save for specifications for which there is no other sufficiently precise and intelligible description, where such reference is justified by the subject matter of the contract and where it is followed by the words "or equivalent". However, the new regulation allows contracting authorities to require specific reports or certificates issued by labels (keurmerk/label) for the works, supplies or services with specific environmental, social or other characteristics which it wants to procure, if the label meets certain conditions.
No. Bidders are not allowed to change elements of the tender specifications and contract conditions, unless in the form of an accepted variant (see 6.c). Unlawful changes to the contract automatically lead to the rejection of a tender if the so-amended aspects of the contract are considered as essential. If they are not, the contracting authority has to decide whether or not to reject the tender in accordance with the fundamental principles of public procurements.
Traditionally, variants are used to modify technical specifications or to add elements to the contract but not tot to change its legal or financial terms. Furthermore, variants can never be accepted when they would change essential aspects which might make it impossible to further compare tenders. As a result, while variants of specifications are under certain circumstances possible, modifications of the contract terms are almost certainly never allowed.
The protection of Small and Medium Enterprises ("SME's") is one of the main objectives of Directive 2014/24/EU. As a consequence, several rules and exemptions in the current Belgian regulation aim to avoid that only larger companies participate in public procurement procedures.
One of the most important tools to this end is the new incentive for contracting authorities to divide contracts into lots wherever possible. If they do not divide a contract with an estimated value above the European thresholds for traditional federal authorities into any lots, they are obligated to explicitly motivate this choice in the procurement documents. Other examples are the general limitation of the minimum annual turnover selection criterion to twice the estimated contract value and the introduction of the ESPD, which should reduce for SME's the burden of demonstrating eligibility.