Provision and maintenance of a terminology server

✓The offer and annexes may be drafted in Dutch, French or English.

✓Concerning the scope of the contract (what, how much, where, when), the market concerns the delivery and support of a clinical terminology server acting as the national terminology server for the Belgian care sector.

✓The server must support FHIR terminology services and provide a syndication API to automate loading of terminological content (including from sources like MLDS) in native format, host nationally validated terminology content as a single authentic source, provide a uniform FHIR‑compatible access format, and include an authorization service for access management.

✓The duration is four years with execution starting on 1 January 2027 if the contract is concluded before that date; otherwise, execution starts on contract signature date.

✓The contract ends automatically after four years, with no extension option.

✓From the start date, the contractor must ensure availability and continuity of the server, components, functionalities, access rights and support throughout the four‑year period.

✓Questions may be asked only via the online forum on publicprocurement.be until 13/11/2026; offers must reach the authority via the e‑Procurement platform by 23/11/2026 at 11:00.

✓Regarding award criteria and weighting, the documents clearly state that the sole award criterion is price (“gunningscriterium ‘prijs’” / “critère d’attribution ‘prix’”), provided that the offer is regular, meets all minimum requirements of the tender documents and the bidder is not in an exclusion situation.

✓There is no multi‑criteria weighting: price alone is decisive, but the authority will assess whether the proposed price is acceptable, considering the contract estimate, prior market exploration and any negotiation results.

✓The procedure allows the authority to decide whether to negotiate or not; if it negotiates, negotiations cover initial and subsequent offers but not the award criteria themselves, and bidders may then submit a Best and Final Offer (BAFO).

✓Concerning risks and special conditions, several elements are highlighted.

✓Exclusion risks are detailed: bidders implicitly declare not to be in mandatory exclusion situations such as participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, terrorism‑related offences, money laundering, child labour/trafficking, or illegal employment of third‑country nationals.

✓Non‑compliance with fiscal and social payment obligations leads to exclusion except where debts are ≤ 3,000 EUR or a granted payment plan is strictly respected; if debts exceed 3,000 EUR, bidders must show counter‑claims against a contracting authority/public enterprise at least equal to the debt minus 3,000 EUR.

✓Bidders may demonstrate “self‑cleaning” corrective measures (except for fiscal/social debts) to regain reliability.

✓The validity period of the offer is 120 calendar days from the day after the offer receipt deadline.

✓No bid compensation is paid.

✓No performance bond (borgtocht / cautionnement) is required, reducing financial entry barriers but shifting reliability assessment to certificates and exclusion rules.

✓Classification as micro/small/medium/large enterprise is requested in the offer form, but this is descriptive rather than a qualification criterion.

✓Further special conditions concern execution, payments, and legal risks.

❓There is an advance payment regime: if requested per art. 67 §2 AR Exécution, an advance of 15% of the reference value (capped at 225,000 EUR) is paid within 30 days of a valid request; payment may be suspended if the contractor fails to meet contractual obligations or violates art. 7 of the law (environmental, social, labour obligations).

✓The contract is fixed‑price: all prices in the tender documents must be expressed in USD and no price revision is foreseen during the contract; the annual global price must include all costs (server, syndication, maintenance, updates, support).

✓At the same time, the offer form template asks for a global price “in EURO” (HTVA/TVAC) broken down per year, introducing a currency contradiction.

✓Given that the special specifications (bestek/cahier spécial des charges) explicitly state that “Tous les prix mentionnés… doivent obligatoirement être exprimés en USD / Alle prijzen… worden verplicht uitgedrukt in USD” and that this clause governs the pricing rules of the contract, this USD requirement should be considered the governing statement; the EUR fields in the offer form are inconsistent and should either be interpreted as a layout error or clarified via the online forum before submission.

✓Another risk area is modification clauses under the AR of 14 January 2013: the contract may be modified for changes in Belgian taxes (art. 38/8), facts attributable to either party causing delay or damage (art. 38/11), suspensions ordered by the authority (art. 38/12), unforeseeable circumstances affecting the contractual balance (art. 38/9 and 38/10), and replacement of the contracting authority due to institutional changes; however, no price‑revision clause based on cost component fluctuations (art. 38/7) applies, meaning that general price indexation is excluded.

❓As for penalties, guarantees, subcontracting, site visits and related conditions, the excerpts focus more on general Belgian execution rules than on bespoke penalties, and no specific liquidated damages table is shown in the cited text.

✓However, standard mechanisms under AR Exécution and art. 38 (delay, damage and possible contract termination or revision) apply, and the contractor is obliged to re‑perform non‑conforming supplies.

✓There is an explicit warranty period (not fully detailed here) with the possibility for bidders to propose a longer warranty term in their offer.

✓The authority disclaims any liability for damage to third parties caused directly or indirectly by activities necessary for execution; the contractor must indemnify the authority against third‑party claims.

✓Subcontracting is permitted but subject to strict compliance with environmental, social and labour obligations, which the operator must also enforce on subcontractors and any employer of personnel for the contract.

❓There is no mention of a mandatory site visit.

✓The documents underline data protection obligations under GDPR and specify that any assignment or pledge of receivables under the contract must be notified to a given address in Brussels.

✓For language and interpretation, the offer itself can be in Dutch, French or English, but the contract interpretation language must be chosen (Dutch or French) in the offer form; disputes are handled by courts in the Brussels judicial district, with French or Dutch as the working language.

✓In terms of contradictions or corrections within the documents, the main notable inconsistency in the given excerpts concerns currency: the specifications insist on prices in USD, while the standard offer form refers to prices in EUR.

✓Since the special specifications are part of the binding “opdrachtdocumenten / documents du marché” and explicitly govern pricing, their USD requirement should prevail; bidders should either express prices strictly in USD and use the form fields accordingly or seek clarification via the official forum before 13/11/2026.

✓Other areas show parallel Dutch/French wording but are substantively aligned (exclusion grounds, duration, BAFO procedure, absence of bond, modification clauses).

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 securities, the special conditions (section 13 “Cautionnement” / “Borgtocht”) state explicitly that no performance bond is required: “Pour ce marché, aucun cautionnement est exigé.” / “Voor deze opdracht is geen borgtocht vereist.” There is also no bid compensation: “Aucune indemnité de soumission n’est octroyée.” / “Er wordt geen biedvergoeding toegekend.” The contract includes a warranty term for the supplied product (section 16–17, not fully quoted here), and such as: “Les soumissionnaires peuvent proposer dans leur offre un délai de garantie plus long” / “De inschrijvers mogen in hun offerte een langere waarborgtermijn voorstellen.” However, this is a service/quality warranty, not a financial warranty guarantee or bond; no separate bid bond or warranty guarantee amount or deadline is required beyond the standard contractual provisions.

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

✓Regarding subcontracting and use of third-party capacity, the offer forms and annexes explicitly allow both joint tenders and reliance on third parties’ capacity.

✓Such as: “Soumission conjointe (groupement d’entreprises)” and “Recours à la capacité de tiers” in French, and “Gezamenlijke inschrijving (combinatie van ondernemingen)” and “Beroep op draagkracht van derden” in Dutch.

✓When relying on third-party capacity, the bidder must attach a signed commitment from each third party to make resources available; those third parties must meet the exclusion criteria; and the resources must be effectively used during performance.

✓Subcontractors are also mentioned in the revision clause (art. 38/9 KB uitvoering / A.R.

❓Exécution), such as where the failure of a subcontractor can be invoked only under specific conditions, but the text sets no quantitative limits (e.g. maximum share) on subcontracting and no specific obligation to pre-declare all subcontractors beyond these capacity and legal-compliance requirements.

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

❓On site visits, the documents do not announce any site visit or inspection related to this supply contract.

❓There is no section prescribing a visit, no date or place, and no indication that attendance is mandatory.

❓Therefore, for this procedure, no site visit is foreseen and none is required for participation.

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

✓Concerning language, the special conditions explicitly state that the tender and its annexes may be drawn up in Dutch, French or English: “L’offre et les annexes jointes au formulaire d’offre sont rédigées en français, néerlandais ou anglais.” / “De offerte en de bijlagen … worden opgesteld in het Nederlands, Frans of Engels.” Thus documents in these three languages are accepted; other languages are not mentioned and therefore not provided for.

✓For the interpretation of the contract, the bidder must choose either Dutch or French in the offer form (“Pour l’interprétation du contrat, la langue suivante est choisie : ☐ Néerlandais ☐ Français” / “Voor de interpretatie van het contract wordt gekozen voor de volgende taal: ☐ Nederlands ☐ Frans”).

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

❓On tender validity and bidder questions, the contract documents specify that bidders are bound by their offer for 120 calendar days from the day following the deadline for receipt of tenders: “Les soumissionnaires restent liés par leur offre pendant un délai de 120 jours calendrier, à compter du jour qui suit celui de la date limite de réception des offres.” / “De inschrijver blijft gebonden door zijn offerte gedurende een termijn van 120 kalenderdagen, ingaande de dag na de uiterste datum voorzien … voor de ontvangst van de offerte.” The deadline for receipt of tenders is 23/11/2026 at 11:00, so validity runs for 120 days from 24/11/2026.

✓For questions, there is an online forum accessed via publicprocurement.be, and questions can be submitted only through that forum until 13/11/2026: “Toute question … sera posée … au plus tard le 13/11/2026.” / “De vragen kunnen ten laatste gesteld worden op 13/11/2026.” After that date, no further questions are accepted or answered.

✓The contracting authority will publish answers on the forum at the latest six calendar days before the tender submission deadline.

Further details

✓The input text concerns a Belgian public procurement procedure (SPF Santé publique / FOD Volksgezondheid) for the “levering en ondersteuning van een terminologieserver” / “fourniture et maintenance d’un serveur de terminologie” to serve as the national terminology server for the Belgian healthcare sector.

❓It is a negotiated procedure without prior publication, governed by Belgian public procurement law (laws of 17 June 2016 and 2013, KB 18 April 2017, KB 14 January 2013).

✓The country point of view is explicitly Belgium (État belge / Belgische Staat).

✓In case of joint participation, all members of the grouping are jointly and severally liable, all required documents must be provided for each member, and each must sign electronically.