Suspension of award decision for digital participation platform: contracting authority may not leave it to tenderers to draw up their own price list — reference cases do not provide a uniform comparison basis when price structures differ fundamentally
The Council of State suspended the award decision by CIPAL (C-SMART) for a framework agreement for a digital citizen participation platform, because the tender documents did not include an inventory and left it to tenderers to draw up their own price catalogue, resulting in no uniform comparison basis for assessing the most heavily weighted price subcriterion (30 of 40 price points), despite the use of five reference cases.
What happened?
CIPAL, a purchasing centre for Flemish local authorities, tendered a framework agreement for a digital participation platform (lot 1). Only two tenderers submitted offers. Award criteria were quality (60 pts) and price (40 pts). For the key price subcriterion 'platform costs' (30 pts), no inventory was provided — tenderers had to create their own price catalogues. The two offers showed systematically and fundamentally different pricing structures, with one tenderer (BV T.) pricing up to five times lower. A price investigation was conducted and accepted, but the Council found that the lack of a uniform inventory created an inherent comparison problem. At a framework agreement level, reference cases alone could not compensate for fundamentally different underlying cost structures. The Council confirmed that this was a price-list contract requiring the contracting authority to provide an inventory (art. 2(8) Royal Decree of 18 April 2017). The award was suspended.
Why does this matter?
This ruling confirms that for price-list contracts, the contracting authority must provide a uniform inventory for tenderers to complete with their unit prices. Reference cases cannot substitute for this requirement when tenderers use fundamentally different pricing structures.
The lesson
Always provide a uniform inventory when using a price-list contract. Do not leave it to tenderers to create their own price catalogues, especially for digital/SaaS services where product structures may differ fundamentally.
Ask yourself
Does your tender include a uniform inventory? Or must tenderers create their own price catalogue? Do your reference cases adequately represent the full scope of the framework agreement?
About this database
The Council of State (Raad van State / Conseil d'État) is Belgium's supreme administrative court. In disputes over public procurement — from contract awards to tenderer exclusions — the Council of State is the final arbiter. The rulings in this database are summarised by TenderWolf in plain language, with practical lessons for tenderers and contracting authorities. View all rulings →