Before a contracting authority evaluates the substance of your tender, it first checks whether you as a contractor are eligible at all. This is the qualitative selection — a filter through which the authority verifies whether candidates and tenderers are capable of executing the contract. It is not about the quality of your tender, but about the quality of your company.
Selection proceeds in two steps: first, exclusion grounds are checked (are you allowed to participate?), then the selection criteria in the strict sense (can you handle it?). In this article we explain both steps, with the practical considerations that make the difference.
Step 1 — Exclusion grounds
Exclusion grounds determine whether your access to the contract is denied. The law distinguishes three categories.
Mandatory exclusion grounds (Article 67)
The contracting authority must exclude you if you (or a member of your board or management) have been irrevocably convicted of one of the following offences:
- Participation in a criminal organisation
- Bribery and corruption
- Fraud
- Terrorist offences or financing of terrorism
- Money laundering
- Child labour and human trafficking
These exclusion grounds are absolute: the authority has no margin of assessment. A conviction automatically leads to exclusion, unless you can demonstrate that you have taken adequate corrective measures (so-called self-cleaning).
Exclusion grounds relating to tax and social security debts (Article 68)
You are excluded if you have tax debts (VAT, direct taxes) or social security debts (NSSO contributions) that are not contested or for which no payment plan is in place. In Belgium, the contracting authority usually verifies this itself via Telemarc.
Specifically: at the time of the submission deadline, you may not have outstanding debts with the NSSO or tax authorities, unless the total amount is less than €3,000, or unless you have a current payment plan whose terms you are meeting punctually.
Optional exclusion grounds (Article 69)
The contracting authority may exclude you — but is not obliged to — if you are in one of the following situations:
- Violation of environmental, social or labour law
- Bankruptcy, liquidation, or moratorium
- Serious professional misconduct that calls your reliability into question
- Distortion of competition (e.g. price-fixing with other tenderers)
- Conflict of interest that cannot be resolved by other means
- Previous serious failure in the performance of a public contract
- False declarations in the context of selection
The contracting authority must state in the specifications which optional exclusion grounds it applies. Always check this for every new contract.
Step 2 — Selection criteria
If you pass the exclusion grounds, the authority assesses you on three types of selection criteria. The law (Article 71) uses a closed system: only criteria falling within these three categories are admissible.
Professional competence
The authority may require that you are registered in a relevant professional or trade register, or that you hold a specific licence or accreditation. Examples:
- Contractor accreditation — for works contracts above certain amounts, accreditation in the correct class and category is mandatory (e.g. category D, class 5 for construction works above €900,000).
- Registration in the CBE — the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises must contain NACE codes for your activities that correspond to the contract.
- Specific permits — e.g. an environmental permit, security clearance, or registration with the FASFC for food-related contracts.
Economic and financial standing
The authority wants to know whether you are financially strong enough to execute the contract. Commonly requested evidence includes:
- Annual accounts (or extracts) from the last two to three financial years, filed with the National Bank.
- Specific turnover figures — e.g. a minimum turnover in the sector relevant to the contract, or a total annual turnover at least double the contract value.
- Bank statement — a declaration from your bank confirming that your company is solvent and capable of bearing the contract financially.
- Proof of insurance — a professional liability insurance policy with adequate coverage.
Important: the requirements must be proportionate. An authority may not require a turnover of €5 million for a contract worth €50,000. The Act of 22 December 2023 (SME access) has reinforced this principle.
Technical and professional ability
Here you demonstrate that you can handle the contract substantively. The means of proof vary by contract type:
For works:
- List of comparable works carried out in the last five years, with certificates of good execution issued by the client.
- Proof of the required accreditation (category and class).
- Description of technical equipment and quality assurance measures.
For supplies:
- List of principal deliveries in the last three years, with details of amount, date and public or private client.
- Description of technical facilities and quality control.
- Samples, descriptions or photographs of the products to be supplied.
For services:
- List of principal services in the last three years, with details of amount, date and client.
- Educational and professional qualifications of the service provider and staff who will execute the contract.
- Statement of the proportion of the contract that may be subcontracted.
Reliance on the capacity of third parties
If you do not meet all selection criteria yourself, you may rely on the capacity of other entities — a subcontractor, a parent company, or another partner. The legal nature of the relationship is irrelevant, but you must demonstrate that you will actually have access to that entity’s resources when executing the contract.
The third-party entity must itself be free from mandatory exclusion grounds. If a contracting authority establishes that the third-party entity does not meet the selection criteria or falls under a mandatory exclusion ground, it must give you the opportunity to replace that entity.
Implicit declaration on honour
For contracts below the European thresholds, Belgium applies the implicit declaration on honour: the mere fact that you submit a tender or request to participate constitutes a declaration that you are not in an exclusion situation. You do not need to submit a separate document — but the authority may verify the truthfulness of this declaration at any time, and in practice always does so before the award.
For contracts above the European thresholds, the ESPD replaces this implicit declaration with an explicit, structured self-declaration.
Selection versus award: the distinction
A common mistake is confusing selection and award. The distinction is fundamental:
Selection criteria concern the contractor: are you reliable, financially sound, and experienced enough? They are assessed before the substantive evaluation of the tender.
Award criteria concern the tender: do you offer the best price-quality ratio? They are assessed after selection.
An authority may not use selection criteria as award criteria, or vice versa. If specifications ask for a detailed methodology as a selection criterion, this is legally vulnerable — that methodology belongs in the award phase.