Every step to bid in Belgium: the documents, who handles each one…

This is the checklist behind a bid in Belgium: each document and step the e-Procurement platform and a Belgian buyer ask for, in the order they come up, and who may lawfully take care of each. For how Belgian procurement works as a whole, from thresholds and procedures to languages, evaluation and payment, see How to bid for public tenders in Belgium.

Before you bid

1. A personal account on e-Procurement. Federal, regional and local buyers publish in the Bulletin des Adjudications and receive tenders on the free federal e-Procurement platform (publicprocurement.be), run by FPS BOSA. You need an account to confirm participation, use the forum and submit electronically.

Cost and time: free; active the same day, through an emailed activation link.
How it works: the account is personal, one per email address, with a password of 13+ characters. Each person who works on your bids registers their own (“Continue as supplier”, then Register). Nobody uses yours.
From abroad: the same. No Belgian eID is needed to register or log in.

2. Link your company and fill in its business card. Under “Manage enterprises”, a user links the company that will bid: its KBO/BCE number or foreign company number, an alias, a contact email, the regions it covers, whether it does works, supplies or services, and its CPV expertise. Buyers can find you through it, and your offers are made in its name. It’s free and done the same day.

Who does it: an adviser can link your company from their own account once you have signed an authorisation letter allowing them to prepare submissions in your name. The platform accepts the same company number more than once, under different aliases.
Get the data right: it must match the official KBO/BCE record, or your home register, because it is used when you submit.
From abroad: choose your country and enter your home company number; there is no fixed format.

3. Your enterprise number (Belgian firms). The number in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (KBO/BCE) is what buyers use, through Telemarc, to pull your status, VAT and social-security data. It’s obtained through an accredited business counter (guichet d’entreprises / ondernemingsloket) and stays valid as long as the company is active. An accountant or the counter files the registration under a written mandate that your directors sign, with your statutes and the directors’ identity.

4. Works: accreditation in the right category and class. Where a works notice demands it, usually above €75,000 for categories or €50,000 for sub-categories, you need accreditation (agréation / erkenning) from the FPS Economy accreditation commission: a category such as D (buildings), C (roads) or E (civil engineering), and a class that caps the contract value. It’s checked before award, lasts 5 years, and its expiry date appears on the public weblist, where anyone can verify your status. Class amounts went back to their pre-April 2024 values after a Council of State ruling of 12 December 2025, so check the class the notice asks for.

Who does it: an accountant assembles the file: accounts, own funds, staff, references of completed works and your tax and social-security status. Your representative signs the application.
From abroad: not compulsory for EU firms. An entry on another Member State’s official list of approved contractors, such as the German PQ-VOB, the Austrian ANKÖ or the Italian SOA, with proof that it matches the category and class, or full ESPD evidence, can be used instead.

5. A qualified signature, before the deadline week. Every electronic submission ends in a submission report that needs a qualified electronic signature, unless the documents say otherwise. It can come from a Belgian eID (card reader and BeIDConnect) or from any qualified trust service provider on the EU trusted list (“QCert for ESig”). A foreign qualified certificate can take several business days to obtain, depending on the provider. A certificate issued in the name of the company itself also works, without a separate mandate.

With your bid

6. The ESPD, only above the EU thresholds. At or above the EU thresholds you declare exclusion grounds and selection criteria in the ESPD (UEA / DUME), either in the module built into the submission space (section 1d) or on espd.publicprocurement.be. Below the thresholds, buyers may not ask for it. It’s free, prepared the same day and valid for the one procedure. An adviser completes it from your data; you confirm the answers are true before the report is signed. The single qualified signature on the submission report covers it.

7. The Russia sanctions declaration (when asked). Above the EU thresholds, contracts may not go to Russian nationals or entities, or where Russian subcontractors or suppliers exceed 10% of the value (EU Regulation 833/2014, art. 5k), and buyers commonly ask for a declaration. It’s free and same-day, prepared from your ownership and subcontractor data; you confirm the facts, and the submission signature covers it.

8. Prepare, finalize, sign, submit. In the submission space you confirm participation, fill in the identification, choose lots, upload your documents and click Finalize. The platform then generates the submission report (rapport de dépôt / indieningsrapport), which covers the offer, annexes and ESPD.

Signing: in the platform with a Belgian eID, or download the report, sign it with your own qualified certificate and upload it. The platform must show the signature as “qualified” and “passed”; BOSA’s Signing Box lets you check beforehand.
Submitting: once the signature is in place, the person who prepared the bid can click Submit. Late tenders are refused. Any later change or withdrawal needs a new signed report.
Invitations: for negotiated procedures, the buyer emails a link and password to the invited company, which forwards them to whoever prepares the bid.
From abroad: the same, with your foreign qualified certificate on a signed PDF.

9. If someone other than your statutory representative signs. A lawyer or consultant can sign the submission report as mandataire with their own qualified certificate, under art. 44 §2 of the Royal Decree of 18 April 2017. They name you as principal and attach the procuration, private or authentic, where a scanned copy is enough, or cite its publication in the Moniteur belge annexes. A lawyer drafts it, your statutory representatives sign it, and a private deed is done the same day. It is valid as stated; a standing procuration lodged with one buyer covers only that buyer’s later contracts. A foreign signatory’s authority is shown by the home register extract, translated if needed.

10. The tax and social-security check. Belgian bidders don’t upload certificates: within 20 days of the deadline the buyer queries Telemarc, which draws on ONSS/RSZ, FPS Finance and KBO data. A debt above €3,000 excludes you unless you respect a payment plan, and you get one chance of 5 working days to put it right. Your accountant prepares the proof of payment, the payment plan or the offsetting claims; you pay. The same platform carries any request to justify your prices, which normally has to be answered within 12 days.

If you’re in line for award

Belgian firms are mostly checked through databases. What the buyer may still ask for, usually from the preferred bidder:

Document	Issued by	Who can get it for you	Valid for	What only you do
Criminal-record extract (company and/or directors)	Central criminal register (FPS Justice) or your municipality; abroad, the home equivalent	Tracked and uploaded for you once received	—	Request it
Home tax and social-security certificates (foreign bidders)	Your home tax authority and social-security institution	Your home accountant, where the authority allows a representative	Recent, as the documents define it	Make any sworn declaration in person
Annual accounts or turnover statement	National Bank of Belgium (Central Balance Sheet Office); abroad, your home register	Your accountant files the accounts and prepares the statement	Latest financial year(s)	Sign the turnover declaration if one is asked
ISO certificates (9001, 14001, 45001, 27001)	A BELAC-accredited body, or one accredited by another EA member	The certification body	3 years with annual surveillance audits	Undergo the audit
VCA / SCC (VCA, VCA*, VCA-P) and VCU	A BELAC-accredited body under the BeSaCC-VCA scheme	The certification body	3 years with annual intermediate audits	Undergo the audit; workers sit VCA exams

Belgian companies’ filed accounts are public, so buyers often read them directly. VCA isn’t a legal requirement but is widely demanded for construction, industrial maintenance and on-site work, and each worker needs a VCA diploma, recorded in the central register. Where a country issues no tax, social or criminal-record certificate, a sworn or solemn declaration before a judicial or administrative authority, a notary or a professional body takes its place.

When the tender asks for them:

Sworn translations into the language of the procedure (Dutch, French or German) by a translator on the FPS Justice national register, who signs electronically with their VTI number.
Apostille or legalisation. Foreign public documents need an apostille from the issuing state unless an EU or treaty exemption applies. For Belgian documents going abroad, FPS Foreign Affairs charges €25 per legalisation or apostille since 1 August 2026, immediately at the Brussels counter (by appointment, for originals of up to 4 pages); documents from accredited partners such as notaries go through eLegalisation.
SME status: there is no certificate. You declare it in the ESPD or identification, and it brings a mandatory advance in non-negotiated procedures of classic authorities.

Before the contract and the first invoice

Insurance. Every contractor must insure its liability for work accidents and its civil liability towards third parties, and prove it within 30 days of the contract being concluded, for the contract’s duration. Works documents often add all-risk or ten-year liability cover. A broker or insurer issues the certificate; you sign the policy. A home insurer’s cover is accepted if it meets the documents’ terms.

Performance security (cautionnement / borgtocht). It is lodged within 30 days of conclusion: as cash or public funds with the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, through a collective-security body, or as a bank or insurer guarantee. The bank or insurer issues the guarantee act naming the buyer and the contract; the proof (deposit receipt, debit notice or original act) goes to the buyer, and a third party may lodge the security for you. You apply for and sign the facility with your bank. Banks and insurers from other EU countries may issue it.

Article 30bis (works). On immovable works, the principal checks at signature and before each payment, on checkinhoudingsplicht.be, whether its contractor or subcontractor has social or tax debts; if so it withholds 35% (social) or 15% (tax) of the invoice and becomes jointly liable. In 2026 the check was extended to self-employed social-status debts. The check is free and valid only on the day it is made. Your accountant or social secretariat keeps your account clean and runs the same checks on your own subcontractors. Foreign contractors are in scope once they have Belgian obligations.

Posting staff from abroad: Limosa and A1. A foreign employer posting workers to Belgium, or a foreign self-employed person, files a free Limosa declaration before the work starts, for each posting. It is filed online by the employer or a mandated social secretariat under its own access; the A1 social-security certificate is requested in the home country.

E-invoicing. Public buyers are invoiced electronically in the EN 16931 / Peppol format, through the Mercurius hub. You contract with a Peppol access-point provider of your choice, and an adviser can configure it under your subscription. There are exemptions below a threshold. For now the rule applies to non-EEA contractors as well; a pending draft law would exempt them.

Who does what

Step	Who can do it	What only you do
e-Procurement account	Each person on their own account	—
Linking your company	An adviser, from their own account	Sign the authorisation letter
KBO/BCE number	An accountant or business counter, under mandate	Sign the mandate
Works accreditation	An accountant assembles the file	Sign the application; provide references
ESPD, sanctions declaration	Prepared for you	Confirm the answers and facts
Upload and Submit	An adviser, from their own account	—
Submission report signature	You, or a lawyer or consultant as mandataire with their own certificate	Sign, or sign the procuration
Tax and social-security regularisation	An accountant	Pay or agree the payment plan
Foreign certificates	Your home accountant	Request the criminal-record extract; make sworn declarations
ISO, VCA	A certification body	Undergo the audit
Sworn translations	A sworn translator	—
Insurance, performance security	A broker, insurer or bank	Sign the policy and the facility
30bis checks, Limosa	An accountant or social secretariat	Pay debts; request A1 certificates

The professionals involved

Professional	Licensed or regulated by	What they do for a bidder
Avocat / advocaat	Local bars under the Orde van Vlaamse Balies (OVB) or AVOCATS.BE	Advises on exclusion grounds, selection criteria and the special specifications (cahier spécial des charges / bestek); drafts the procuration; signs the submission report as mandataire with their own qualified signature; files suspension or annulment actions within the 15-day standstill
Accountant and tax adviser (expert-comptable / belastingadviseur)	ITAA (Institut des Conseillers fiscaux et des Experts-comptables)	Files annual accounts with the National Bank; prepares turnover and ratio statements for the ESPD; handles debt regularisation within the 5-working-day window; prepares the works-accreditation file
Recognised social secretariat (secrétariat social agréé / erkend sociaal secretariaat)	FPS Social Security / ONSS-RSZ	Files ONSS/RSZ declarations so Telemarc shows no debts; acts under a mandate registered on the social-security portal, not with your login
Notaire / notaris	Fednot; chambres des notaires	Authentic deeds and Moniteur belge publications that prove signing authority; authentic procurations; documents sent through eLegalisation
Sworn translator (traducteur juré / beëdigd vertaler)	FPS Justice national register (Law of 10 April 2014)	Sworn translations of foreign certificates, statutes and accounts into Dutch, French or German
Certification body	BELAC (FPS Economy)	ISO 9001, 14001, 45001 and 27001; VCA, VCA* and VCA-P
Bank, insurer or collective-security body	National Bank of Belgium; FSMA	Performance-security guarantees, or a solidary surety lodged with the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations
Tender consultant	Not regulated	Finds notices, registers as a supplier user, links your company, prepares the offer, ESPD and annexes, uploads; signs the submission report only with your procuration and their own qualified certificate

If your company is from abroad

You don’t need a Belgian company or VAT number to bid, though works contracts need Belgian accreditation or proof of an equivalent official-list entry in another EU country; who may bid from abroad is explained in How to bid for public tenders in Belgium. For the paperwork:

You register with email and password and link your company with its home number. Telemarc covers only Belgian sources, so you supply recent tax and social-security certificates and a criminal-record extract from home, or a sworn declaration where your country issues none, with a sworn translation into the procedure’s language. Your home register extract proves who may sign. For works, an entry on your home country’s official list with proof of equivalence replaces Belgian accreditation. Bring a qualified certificate from the EU trusted list, have foreign public documents apostilled at home, and file Limosa with A1 certificates before your staff start work in Belgium.

Pitfalls

Never sign with your client’s, or anyone else’s, eID or certificate. Your representative signs, or a mandataire signs with their own certificate and the procuration attached.
itsme won’t do. It isn’t accepted for signing on e-Procurement; check that the signature shows “qualified” and “passed” before you submit.
“Return to draft” voids the signature. Any change after Finalize means signing again before you resubmit.
No ESPD below the EU thresholds. Buyers may not ask for it there, so don’t attach one.
Mind the language. Bid in the procedure’s language (Dutch, French or German depending on the buyer) and budget for sworn translations of foreign certificates.
Check the accreditation class against the notice on works above €75,000 (categories) or €50,000 (sub-categories).
Deal with debts over €3,000 early. You get one 5-working-day chance to regularise, and only one.
Legal work goes to a lawyer, and not one shared with a competitor. Legal advice and litigation belong to lawyers, and a lawyer may not act for two competing bidders in the same procedure (conflict of interest).

Doing it with askTender

In Belgium, your askTender Partner is added as a named user on your company’s account on e-Procurement (publicprocurement.be) and works under their own login. You keep your own login and sign what only you can sign: the authorisation letter, the submission report, or the procuration that lets a mandataire sign it with their own certificate. The askTender Desk prepares the ESPD, declarations and offer, assembles the bid and coordinates the certificates; askTender Partners, such as an accountant, an avocat or advocaat, or a sworn translator, do the steps their licence covers.

Questions

Do I need a Belgian eID to bid on e-Procurement?

Not to register or log in: a personal supplier account works with an email address and password. You do need a qualified electronic signature on the submission report, which can come from a Belgian eID with a card reader or from any qualified certificate on the EU trusted list. itsme is not accepted for that signature.

Can someone else sign the submission report for my company?

Yes, as a mandataire. Your statutory representatives sign a procuration naming them; the mandataire then signs the report with their own qualified certificate and attaches the procuration (a scanned copy is enough) or cites the Moniteur belge annex. Nobody signs with your eID or certificate.

Do Belgian bidders have to upload tax and social-security certificates?

No. Buyers check Belgian sources themselves through Telemarc. If a debt above €3,000 shows up, you get one chance of 5 working days to prove payment, a respected payment plan or a claim that offsets it. Foreign bidders supply recent certificates from their home authorities instead.

Do I need contractor accreditation for Belgian works tenders?

When the notice demands a category and class, typically for works above €75,000 (categories) or €50,000 (sub-categories). The FPS Economy accreditation lasts 5 years and anyone can check it on the public weblist. EU contractors can instead rely on an entry in another Member State’s official list with proof of equivalence.

What does an apostille cost in Belgium?

Since 1 August 2026, FPS Foreign Affairs charges €25 per legalisation or apostille for Belgian documents going abroad. Foreign public documents used in Belgium are apostilled in the country that issued them, unless an EU or treaty exemption applies.

Sources

This guide explains the rules in plain English; it isn’t legal advice. Procurement rules change, and each tender document sets its own conditions — it always prevails.