Legislation surrounding public procurement is changing rapidly. Between the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2026, more changes will be implemented than in the previous five years. From mandatory advance payments for SMEs to halved payment terms and reduced European thresholds — the impact on your tendering activities is significant. This article lists the most important changes.

1. The SME Act 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 procurement.

Mandatory advance payments (from January 1, 2024)

Contracting authorities are required to pay advances to SMEs that win a contract. The percentages depend on the size of the company:

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

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

Remuneration for creative work (from February 1, 2024)

When contracting authorities request models, drawings, prototypes, or designs as part of the tender process—for example, in architectural competitions or design contests—they are required to pay a reasonable fee to the tenderers.

Transparency ranking (from June 1, 2024)

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

2. Payment term extended to 30 days (Royal Decree of August 12, 2024)

The Royal Decree of August 12, 2024—which came into effect on January 1, 2025 —fundamentally changes how quickly contracting authorities must pay.

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

Now: verification and payment are combined into a single maximum period of 30 days. Deviations are only permitted if the special nature of the contract objectively justifies this, and may in no case be manifestly unreasonable for the contractor.

This is a direct result of the judgment C-585/20 of the Court of Justice of the EU (October 20, 2022), in which the Court ruled that Spain's 60-day period was contrary to the Late Payment Directive. The only exception: healthcare, where a 60-day period remains in place.

3. Lowered European thresholds 2026-2027

The biennial review of the threshold amounts has this time led to a reduction — a rare occurrence. Since January 1, 2026, Delegated Regulations 2025/2150, 2025/2151, and 2025/2152 have applied:

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

In concrete terms, this means that more contracts will fall above the European threshold and will therefore have to be tendered at European level via TED. For tenderers, this increases transparency and the range of contracts that can be found.

4. eForms: the new publication format on TED

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

October 2023: eForms mandatory for new announcements
January 2024: new TED platform live with improved search functionality
April–June 2024: old systems (eSentool, eNotices) permanently shut down

The eForms contain new fields for sustainability, innovation, and SME access that were missing from 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 procurement contracts.

B2G (government contracts): Since March 1, 2024, all invoices for government contracts above €3,000 must be submitted electronically using the Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 format (UBL XML). The invoices are processed via Mercurius, the central platform of BOSA, which serves both federal and regional government services.

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

If you are 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. Bail reform (Royal Decree of September 4, 2023)

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

7. Revision of European directives (2024–2026)

The European Commission has launched a thorough review of the three public procurement directives: Directive 2014/24/EU (classic), 2014/25/EU (special sectors), 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 review focuses on five strategic priorities: EU competitiveness, sustainability, strategic autonomy, digitization, and social/environmental criteria. Specifically, it looks at the possibility of giving preference to European products in public procurement—a fundamental shift if it goes ahead.

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 procurement 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 partnership of eight countries that applies circular criteria when purchasing laptops and smartphones. In Flanders, Vlaanderen Circulair is actively working to integrate circular criteria into public procurement.

As a bidder, it is worthwhile to invest now in sustainability certificates, life cycle analyses, and circular business models. These criteria are becoming increasingly important in the awarding of contracts.

Stay informed

Legislation surrounding public procurement is evolving rapidly. With TenderWolf, you not only receive relevant assignments, but you also stay informed of changes that affect your tendering activities.

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Public procurement 2024-2026: an overview of the most important legislative changes