Public procurement legislation is moving fast. Between late 2023 and early 2026, more changes have been implemented than in the five years before. From mandatory advance payments for SMEs to halved payment terms and lowered European thresholds — the impact on your tender activities is concrete. This article outlines the key changes.

1. The SME Law of December 22, 2023

The most significant recent change is the law of December 22, 2023, which introduces three concrete measures to give SMEs better access to public contracts.

Mandatory Advance Payments (from January 1, 2024)

Contracting authorities are required to pay advance payments to SMEs that win a contract. The percentages depend on company size:

Micro-enterprises: at least 20% of contract value
Small enterprises: at least 10%, maximum 20%
Medium-sized enterprises: at least 5%, maximum 20%

The advance payment is capped at €225,000 and applies to contracts placed through procedures other than negotiated procedure without prior publication.

Bid Compensation for Creative Work (from February 1, 2024)

When contracting authorities request models, drawings, prototypes, or designs as part of the submission — think architectural competitions or design contracts — they are required to pay reasonable bid compensation to bidders.

Ranking Transparency (from June 1, 2024)

Contracting authorities must inform all bidders of their individual and provisional ranking. This gives you earlier insight into where you stand and makes the procedure more transparent.

2. Payment Term to 30 Days (Royal Decree of August 12, 2024)

The Royal Decree of August 12, 2024 — effective January 1, 2025 — fundamentally changes how quickly contracting authorities must pay.

Previously: the verification period (30 days) and payment period (30 days) were separate. In practice, an invoice could remain unpaid for 60 days.

Now: verification and payment are merged into one maximum term of 30 days. Deviations are only permitted if the specific nature of the contract objectively justifies this, and may in no case be manifestly unreasonable to the contractor.

This is a direct implementation of ECJ ruling C-585/20 (October 20, 2022), in which the Court ruled that Spain’s 60-day term violated the Late Payment Directive. The only exception: healthcare, where a term of 60 days is maintained.

3. Lowered European Thresholds 2026-2027

The biennial revision of threshold amounts has this time resulted in a reduction — a rarity. Since January 1, 2026, via Delegated Regulations 2025/2150, 2025/2151, and 2025/2152:

Central government (supplies and services): €140,000 (was €143,000)
Sub-central authorities (supplies and services): €216,000 (was €221,000)
Works and concessions: €5,404,000 (was €5,538,000)

Concretely, this means more contracts fall above the European threshold and must therefore be tendered Europe-wide via TED. For bidders, this increases transparency and the supply of findable contracts.

4. eForms: The New Publication Format on TED

The European publication platform TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) has fully switched to the eForms format. The transition occurred in stages:

October 2023: eForms mandatory for new notices
January 2024: new TED platform live with improved search functionality
April-June 2024: old systems (eSentool, eNotices) permanently deactivated

The eForms contain new fields for sustainability, innovation, and SME access that were missing in the old XML forms. The Belgian e-Procurement platform is connected to this.

5. E-Invoicing: Peppol Mandatory

Electronic invoicing via the Peppol network is no longer optional for public contracts.

B2G (government contracts): Since March 1, 2024, all invoices for government contracts above €3,000 must be submitted electronically via the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 format (UBL XML). Invoices go through Mercurius, BOSA’s central platform serving both federal and regional government services.

B2B (business-to-business): From January 1, 2026, electronic invoicing becomes mandatory for all B2B transactions between VAT-registered companies in Belgium. The same Peppol/UBL infrastructure is used.

If you’re not yet connected to Peppol, now is the time to take action. Accounting software such as Exact, Billit, Yuki, and Octopus offers standard Peppol integration.

6. Surety Reform (Royal Decree of September 4, 2023)

The Royal Decree of September 4, 2023 relaxes surety rules. Contracting authorities can now waive the surety when it’s not necessary to cover the risk of non-performance. This was previously not possible: the 5% surety was in principle always mandatory. The change reduces the financial barrier for SMEs on smaller contracts.

7. Revision of European Directives (2024-2026)

The European Commission has launched a thorough revision of the three procurement directives: Directive 2014/24/EU (classic), 2014/25/EU (utilities), and 2014/23/EU (concessions).

The timeline:

December 2024 — March 2025: first public consultation
November 2025 — January 2026: second consultation
Q2 2026: legislative proposal expected

The revision focuses on five strategic priorities: EU competitiveness, sustainability, strategic autonomy, digitalization, and social/environmental criteria. Specifically, consideration is being given to allowing preference for European products in public procurement — a fundamental shift if implemented.

8. Sustainability and Circular Economy

The trend toward Green Public Procurement (GPP) is accelerating:

European: The European Commission is developing binding minimum criteria for sustainable purchasing for dozens of product groups. The Circular Economy Action Plan 2020 makes GPP a pillar of circular economy policy.

Belgian: Belgium is a co-founder of the Circular & Fair ICT Pact (CFIT) — an international collaboration of eight countries applying circular criteria to laptop and smartphone procurement. In Flanders, Vlaanderen Circulair is actively working on integrating circular criteria into public procurement.

As a bidder, it pays to invest now in sustainability certificates, life cycle analyses, and circular business models. These criteria carry increasing weight in awards.

Stay Informed

Public procurement legislation evolves rapidly. With TenderWolf, you receive not only relevant contracts but also stay informed about changes affecting your tender activities.

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Public Procurement 2024-2026: Key Legislative Changes at a Glance