Développement, maintenance & hébergement du site web urbain et des sous-sites de la Ville de Nieuwpoort

✓At least five references for similar assignments for local authorities in the last three years are mandatory, each with a minimum contract value of EUR 50,000 excl.

✓VAT, executed by the bidder as main contractor and backed by attestations of good execution.

✓The checklist of documents to be attached to the offer is extensive: completed and signed offer form (Annex A) and inventory (Annex B), criminal record extract, turnover declaration, descriptions of WaaS, CMS, WCAG compliance, technical architecture, modules, hosting, SLA, project approach, planning, training, security measures, NIS2 compliance, continuity and exit strategy, test environment access, design concept, as well as sub‑processors list, AI functionalities description and representation powers where applicable.

✓Such as for award criteria and weighting, the contract is awarded to the economically most advantageous regular tender based on four criteria: price (30 points), quality of the proposed concept and technical solution (40 points), SLA/maintenance/support (20 points), and project management and training (10 points).

✓Price is scored mathematically according to a “rule of three” using the lowest regular offer as reference.

✓The quality criterion is subdivided into CMS/structure/usability (20 points), functional completeness of modules and features (10 points), integrations and technical architecture (5 points), and graphic concept and UX (5 points), each scored on a five‑level qualitative scale from “excellent” to “unacceptable.” SLA/maintenance/support and project management/training are similarly broken down into sub‑criteria (response times, availability guarantees, security, monitoring, backup and recovery, support and ticketing, planning, risk analysis, documentation and ongoing training).

✓Demonstrations and a test environment of the CMS are compulsory parts of the evaluation; failure to provide them may cause evaluation only on the written offer.

✓Such as in the area of risks and special conditions, the text imposes strict rules on subcontracting, insurances, liability, continuity and penalties.

✓Subcontractors whose capacity was used for selection must actually be used; new subcontractors require prior consent, and all concerned entities must meet exclusion rules.

✓Minimum insurances include operational civil liability, post‑delivery civil liability, professional liability and cyber/data risk insurance, with adequate coverage and proof via insurer attestations.

✓SLA breaches can trigger contractual penalties: EUR 250 per started calendar day of overrun for critical incident resolution time, EUR 500 per day of availability below the guaranteed level, EUR 500 per breach of RPO/RTO, and EUR 500 per breach of incident/datalek reporting duties, capped at 10% of original contract value per contract year, without prejudice to recovery of higher actual damages or contract termination.

✓An extensive exit and continuity clause obliges the contractor, upon any termination, to cooperate fully and free of charge with migration, maintain hosting and services during transition, and deliver all data, configurations, documentation and, for custom components, source artifacts, then to destroy confidential data (with proof) subject to legal retention.

✓The contractor must comply with GDPR, NIS2 and the EU AI Regulation, be transparent about any use of website data to train AI systems, and obtain prior permission from the city.

✓Such as for procedural conditions, question and submission deadlines and possible contradictions, the text fixes a last date for questions (18 November 2026) and a bid submission deadline (25 November 2026 before 11:00) via the federal e‑Procurement/e‑Tendering platform only; any other submission mode (email, postal mail) is irregular.

✓Answers and any rectifications or clarifications published via e‑Procurement become binding parts of the tender documents, and bidders cannot later invoke ignorance of such messages.

✓The binding period of offers (verbintenistermijn) is explicitly extended to 180 days from the bid deadline, in deviation from the standard 90 days of the Belgian placement decree, and this explicit clause prevails over general regulations.

✓The text also indicates that any contradictory vendor terms are deemed not written and unenforceable against the contracting authority.

✓Where equivalence to ISO standards or other requirements is allowed, the principle is that the bidder must prove equivalence and the authority retains discretion to request additional evidence.

Answers on the required criteria

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

✓Regarding securities and guarantees, the text does not mention any bid bond or performance bond requirement as such; instead, it regulates risk through insurance, SLA-penalties and warranty terms.

✓In addition, there is a twelve‑month “waarborgtermijn” per website starting at provisional acceptance, during which all defects due to design, configuration, development or implementation faults must be corrected free of charge.

✓Contractual sanctions are defined (for example €250 per day for exceeding critical SLA deadlines and €500 per day for downtime or security breaches), but no explicit bank guarantees or bid/performance bonds are required in the provided text.

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

✓On subcontracting, the tender explicitly allows the use of underaannemers and other entities’ capacities, subject to strict conditions.

✓Such as: if the bidder relies on the qualitative capacity (studie- en beroepskwalificaties, relevante beroepservaring) of pre-identified subcontractors for selection, these subcontractors must then actually be used in performance.

✓Any other subcontractors may only be engaged with prior consent of the contracting authority.

✓The contractor remains fully liable towards the authority for all obligations, and the authority has no direct contractual link to the subcontractors.

✓Subcontractors whose capacity is used must not be in an exclusion situation under article 67 of the Wet van 17 juni 2016 unless they demonstrate “corrigerende maatregelen” under article 70. There are also specific obligations to impose labour-law clauses on subcontractors (e.g. relating to illegal third-country nationals and timely payment of wages), and to ensure that subcontractors hold appropriate insurances and comply with confidentiality and data protection obligations.

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

❓Concerning site visits, the text provided does not describe any place visit, inspection or “plaatsbezoek”, nor does it make attendance at any visit mandatory.

❓These demo and test environment obligations form part of the evaluation of the gunning criteria, but no physical visit to municipal premises is stipulated in the excerpt.

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

✓Regarding the language of the tender and documents, the offer must be drawn up in Dutch.

✓Such as: “De inschrijver maakt zijn offerte op in het Nederlands” and all documents prepared, completed or signed by the tenderer must be dated and signed accordingly.

❓The text does not explicitly state that supporting documents in other languages are accepted; where certificates are requested (ISO, references, criminal record extract, foreign tax/social certificates), the expectation is that they be submitted in a form the authority can assess, but any deviation from Dutch is not directly regulated in the excerpt, so the safe interpretation is that the main tender and narrative documents must be in Dutch.

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 verbintenistermijn is explicitly set at 180 calendar days, in deviation from the standard 90 days in article 58 KB Plaatsing.

✓Such as: the bidder is bound by its offer for 180 days from the limit date for receipt of offers (25 November 2026), i.e. until around late May 2027.

✓For information requests, all communication must go via the e-Procurement forum, and questions must be submitted at the latest on 18 November 2026.

✓Questions received after this date will in principle not be handled unless the authority decides otherwise.

✓Answers and any clarifications or rectifications are published anonymously via e-Procurement, become part of the tender documents and are binding for all bidders.

Further details

✓The input text is a Belgian public tender (overheidsopdracht) launched by Stad Nieuwpoort for the development, maintenance, further development and hosting of six municipal websites on a Website-as-a-Service platform.

✓It sets out the applicable Belgian and EU legal framework (notably the Belgian Wet van 17 juni 2016 inzake overheidsopdrachten, and various EU regulations including GDPR and the AI Regulation), so the point of view is clearly that of Belgium within the European Union.

✓The text details the administrative rules for participation, qualitative selection, gunning criteria, contract execution (SLA, exit, continuity), and practical aspects such as electronic submission via the federal e-Procurement/e-Tendering platform.

✓As background, the tender is a services contract, awarded via a vereenvoudigde onderhandelingsprocedure met voorafgaande bekendmaking.

✓Offers must be submitted electronically via e-Procurement by 25 November 2026 before 11:00, and there is no public opening session.

✓The contract has an initial term of four years with possible extensions up to six years.

✓The bidder must demonstrate minimum turnover, specific technical and organisational capacities (WaaS model, CMS, WCAG, information security, ISO 27001/9001), and at least five relevant references for local authorities.

✓The text also specifies extensive obligations on informatieveiligheid, SLA compliance, exit support and continuity of service.

✓Such as: the contractor must maintain at least civil liability (uitbating and na levering), professional liability and cyber/data risk insurance, with insured amounts proportionate to the assignment; proof (attest) must be provided within thirty days after contract award upon request.

✓Prices must be expressed in euro.