Support to the Walloon Tourism Observatory for the governance, analysis and valorisation of tourism data and the development of decision support tools

✓Deliverables include diagnostic and reconciliation note, indicator framework, governance protocols, operational dashboard, analyses and recommendations, documentation and training supports, and a final report, with specific calendar milestones (e.g. first operational results and dashboard by first semester 2027).

✓Such as regards award criteria, the contract is awarded on “best price-quality ratio” with three criteria: (1) Price TVAC, weighted 40/100, evaluated via a relative formula comparing each offer to the lowest regular price; (2) Understanding of needs and collaboration modalities, weighted 40/100, assessed on comprehension of the sector, government priorities, tourism data, ability to derive diagnostics/recommendations/scenarios, prospective analysis capacity, ability to work to defined priorities and in co-construction, and pragmatism of solutions, demonstrated in the 10‑page methodology note; and (3) Adequacy of proposed tools, weighted 20/100, covering data architecture (separating official and sectoral data), suitability of the dashboard to decision needs, sustainability/documentation/maintainability and compatibility with OwT’s IT, and the transfer-of-competences arrangements enabling OwT autonomy.

✓Such as concerns risks and special conditions, the documents set standard Belgian RGE-based sanctions for non-performance: penalties for any default of execution (e.g. 0.07% one-off or 0.02% per day, with minimums and maximums); automatic delay fines of 0.1% per day, capped at 7.5% of the value concerned (10% if time is an award criterion), with possibilities of partial or total remission under strict conditions.

✓Measures d’office can include unilateral termination, execution in régie or for compte at the contractor’s risk and cost, and exclusion from future markets for three years in case of serious or persistent breaches or collusion.

✓The offer validity period is 120 days from the submission deadline; the bidder is bound for that period, and any withdrawal must be “pur et simple” with a new deposit report signed with a qualified signature.

✓No price revision formula applies to this market (though generic modification clauses are described in Annex 10).

✓Financial guarantees include mandatory accident-at-work and civil-liability insurance (attestation within 30 days after conclusion) but no performance bond (cautionnement is explicitly not required).

✓Subcontracting is allowed, the main contractor remains solely responsible; chains of subcontracting are not limited for this market, but all subcontractors must meet technical capacity requirements proportionally, and if the bidder relies on another entity’s capacity to meet minimum criteria, that part must be subcontracted to that entity.

✓The market is not classified as “secteur sensible à la fraude”, so the specific fraud-chain rules are only relevant in general annexes.

✓No site visit or information session is foreseen.

✓Such as dealing with contradictions or corrections, the preamble clearly states hierarchy: (1) in case of conflict between the cahier spécial des charges and its annexes, the main cahier prevails; (2) in case of conflict between the notice of market (avis de marché) and the cahier, the avis de marché prevails.

✓There is an apparent tension between Annex 5 (signature of offer) stating that the signature must be an electronic qualified signature (QESig) on the deposit report, and the main administrative clauses stating that a “simple” electronic signature on the deposit report suffices; given the hierarchy, the statement in the main cahier (Partie 1, section on dépôt de l’offre) applies unless the avis de marché says otherwise.

✓As to document corrections, bidders may correct errors or omissions in the inventory (with a justificatory note) and must notify any errors or omissions in the special specifications that prevent pricing or comparison of offers via the contact person or forum no later than 10 days before the submission deadline; the contracting authority may then issue corrections and extend the deadline.

Answers on the required criteria

Must securities be provided (bid bond, performance or warranty guarantee)? If so: which, in what amount and by when?

✓Such as regarding financial guarantees, the document specifies that this contract does not require the contractor to constitute a performance/warranty bond (“cautionnement”).

✓On page 19 it states: “Vous ne devez pas constituer de cautionnement pour ce marché.” There is, however, a general description of how a cautionnement would work and be constituted (ANNEXE 8), but in this specific market that option is explicitly deactivated.

✓No bid bond is mentioned, and no other financial securities (performance or warranty guarantees) are required beyond insurance: the adjudicataire must, within 30 days of contract conclusion, provide attestations of (1) accident-at-work insurance and (2) civil liability insurance vis‑à‑vis third parties.

Is subcontracting allowed? If so: with which limits and which disclosure duties?

✓Such as concerning subcontracting, the contract explicitly allows the contractor to entrust all or part of its engagements to subcontractors (page 19: “Vous pouvez confier tout ou partie de vos engagements à des sous‑traitants.”).

✓The adjudicataire remains solely responsible towards the contracting authority, which has no contractual link with subcontractors.

✓Limits include that, when certain subcontractors are proposed in the offer, the contractor must in principle use those same subcontractors unless authorised to change; all subcontractors must meet minimum technical/professional capacity requirements proportionally to the part they perform; and the direct subcontractor is forbidden to re‑subcontract the entirety of what is entrusted to it or to keep only coordination (ANNEXE 9 and page 20).

✓Subcontractors may also be checked for exclusion grounds, and the adjudicataire must inform them of payment modalities.

Is there a site visit, and is attendance mandatory? If so: when?

✓Such as regarding site visits and information sessions, the formalities section (page 11) uses a tick‑box structure.

✓For this contract, it is stated: “Une séance d’information n’est pas prévue.” and “Une visite des lieux n’est pas prévue.” So neither an information meeting nor a site visit is organised, and there is no mandatory attendance requirement.

✓Services will be provided mainly at Tourisme Wallonie – Avenue Gouverneur Bovesse 74, 5100 Jambes, but no prior visit is required, nor scheduled.

In which language must the tender and the supporting documents be submitted, and are documents in other languages accepted?

✓Such as in relation to language and submission format, under “Langue du marché” (page 8) the governing language of the market is specified as French: “La langue régissant le marché est le français.” The tender must be drawn up using the French‑language forms annexed to the cahier des charges (Annexe 1 and 2), and submitted electronically via the Belgian e‑Procurement platform by 16 November 2026 at 10:00.

❓The text does not explicitly address acceptance of documents in other languages; given the explicit designation of French as the governing language, supporting documents are expected in French or, if other languages are used, they would typically need translation to French to be safely considered compliant.

❓No alternative language is indicated as acceptable in the clauses.

How long is the bidder bound by the tender (validity period), and is there a deadline for bidder questions? If so: until when?

✓Such as concerning the validity period of the tender and the deadline for bidder questions, the contract stipulates (page 13) that bidders are bound by their offer for 120 days from the deadline for submission of tenders.

✓Any negotiations and the submission of a final offer must occur within this validity period.

✓Questions on the tender must be submitted via the e‑Procurement “forum” only, accessible from 22/10/2026 to 15/11/2026 (page 8).

✓The contracting authority will publish answers progressively and at the latest six calendar days before the final deadline for submission of offers, provided the questions were asked in due time.

✓Additionally, if bidders find errors or omissions in the special specifications that prevent pricing or comparison of offers, they must inform the authority via the forum or the contact person no later than 10 days before the ultimate receipt date of offers (page 12).

Further details

✓The input text is a “cahier spécial des charges” (special tender specifications) for a Belgian public service contract launched by Tourisme Wallonie (Wallonia, Belgium).

✓It concerns support services to the Observatoire wallon du Tourisme in the field of data governance, analysis and decision‑support tools, and is conducted under Belgian public procurement law and EU‑related regulatory references (such as the DNSH principle from EU taxonomy).

✓The country point of view is clearly Belgian (Walloon regional authority, Belgian RGE, Belgian Code pénal social, Belgian e‑Procurement platform).