The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a bill aimed at improving SMEs’ access to public contracts.
The draft law was co-signed by the ministers for SMEs and the civil service, David Clarinval and Petra De Sutter respectively, and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. It contains several measures that are part of an action plan adopted in November 2021.
Among other things, it will facilitate the payment of advances for public contracts, which would enable the successful tenderer to increase its liquidity while waiting for the payment of the first invoices.
The bill authorises a contracting authority to grant advances of up to 20% of the initial contract amount, with a ceiling of €225,000.
A bidding allowance for non-selected companies is also included, in case they needed to make certain intellectual or creative efforts to be able to submit a bid.
Finally, the contracting authority has to inform each bidding company, immediately after the opening of the tenders, of its individual place in the provisional ranking.
