The Belgian Government has adopted in December 2023 a new Charter for the access of SME's to public procurement contracts. The Charter follows on to an evaluation (in 2022/2023) of an earlier Charter initially adopted in January 2018.
The new Charter shows significant progress towards fostering the effective implementation by public authorities of good practices as clients in public contracts across all sectors. While the Charter was adopted at the Federal level it logically also impacts on the Regional and local level. It will be published in the Belgian Monitor as it has the status of a legal document hence it must be enforced alike a piece of regulation. Among the notable advances from the point of view of the sector, let us point out the recognition of the specificities in terms of architectural ordering, with obligations and formal recommendations with regard in particular to the selection and award criteria, and also on the taking into account economic aspects of the procedures.