Country kit
Bidding in Belgium: the country kit
What a company from another country needs to know before it bids for a public contract in Belgium.
Not legal advice. Rules and portals change: check the buyer's documents and the official portal.
Written notes last reviewed on November 15, 2026.
For a bidder from abroad
What a company from another country usually runs into. Each line names where you can check it.
- Portals
-
Federal, regional and local buyers publish and take bids on one federal platform, e-Procurement, which holds the Bulletin of Tenders.
Check it at e-Procurement
- Account to submit
-
To submit you need an account on the platform the notice names. Open it days ahead: some platforms check a new company by hand.
Check it at e-Procurement
- ESPD and eCertis
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The European Single Procurement Document is accepted as a first proof that you are suitable; here it is called DUME / UEA. eCertis shows which certificates of your own country match the ones asked for.
Check it at eCertis (European Commission)
- Registers and lists
-
For works above set values Belgian contractors hold an approval (agréation, erkenning) in a class and a category. A contractor from another state can usually show an equivalent registration at home or supply the evidence itself; the documents say how.
Check it at SPF Economie / FOD Economie
- Language of the bid
-
Bids are written in the language of the buyer: Dutch, French or German. Certificates in another language usually need a translation; the documents say whether it has to be certified.
Check it at e-Procurement
From the register
Counted from the notices Aperlena reads. These lines change as the register does.
- Sources we read
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- EU Funding and Tenders Portal (SEDIA) - EU institutions
- NATO Front Door for Industry - procurement opportunities of NSPA and ACO
Notices above the EU thresholds also arrive through TED, the EU's Tenders Electronic Daily.
- Open now
-
1,045 open notices. See them
Busiest sectors: Construction work (152), Architecture & engineering services (91), Business services (87)
- Time to bid
-
Open procedure above the EU thresholds: usually 15 to 36 days from publication to the deadline (median: 30, from 9,821 notices).
- Language of the notices
- Dutch, French, German
- Currency
- Amounts are stated in euros (EUR).
- Working days
-
Deadlines on Aperlena count working days on the national calendar of Belgium: Monday to Friday, without the national public holidays. Regional holidays are not counted.
The next national holidays on a weekday: , , ,
After the award
Not legal advice. The periods run from the day the decision is sent to you. Check your award letter and national law before you rely on any of them.
- Standstill period
-
Usually 15 calendar days from the day after the decision was sent.
The buyer usually may not sign the contract before it ends.
- Time to challenge
-
Usually 15 calendar days from the day after the decision was sent.
- Review body
- Conseil d'État / Raad van State (ou le juge judiciaire)
- Rule
- Loi du 17 juin 2013 (motivation, information et voies de recours)
The periods are the ones for contracts above the EU thresholds. Below them national rules differ, and some awards have no standstill at all.
On the page of an awarded notice the periods are counted from its award date, with a letter asking the buyer for its reasons. Awarded contracts in Belgium