Establishment of a test system

The provisions relating to verification systems can be found in Article 48 of the Law on Public Procurement in the Sectors and in Articles 20 and 40 of the Ordinance on Public Procurement in the Sectors.
Contracting entities in the sectors may set up and operate a system for verifying the suitability of undertakings when awarding contracts. Contracting entities that set up or operate a verification system shall ensure that the undertakings can undergo verification at any time. The companies that meet the suitability criteria set by the contracting authority are entered in a list.

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If the invitation to tender is issued by publishing the existence of a qualification system, the tenderers must be selected in a restricted procedure or in a negotiated procedure from among the candidates who have qualified under such a system.

The system, which may comprise different stages, shall be operated on the basis of objective rules and criteria established by the contracting authority. If these rules and criteria include technical specifications, Article 30 of the Law on Public Procurement in the Sectors shall apply. They must be updated as necessary.

The rules and criteria for the review must be made available to interested companies on request. The revision of these rules and criteria must be communicated to interested companies. If, in the opinion of a contracting entity, the verification system of certain other contracting entities or bodies meets its requirements, it shall inform the interested companies of the names of these third contracting entities or bodies.

If these rules and criteria contain requirements regarding the economic, financial, professional or technical capacity of the companies, the candidate or tenderer may rely on the capacity of subcontractors, irrespective of the legal relationship he has with them. It must prove that it has these resources at its disposal throughout the validity of the qualification system, in particular by obtaining a commitment from these companies that they will make the necessary resources available to the candidate or tenderer. Under the same conditions, consortia may rely on the capacities of the members of the consortia or other companies.

Contracting authorities must inform applicants within a period of six months of the decision they have taken on the qualification of applicants. If the decision on qualification cannot be made within four months of receipt of the application for examination, the contracting authority must inform the applicant of the reasons for a longer processing time no later than two months after receipt of the application and state when a decision will be made on the acceptance or rejection of the applicant's application.

In their decision on qualification and when revising the assessment criteria and rules, contracting authorities may not

• impose administrative, technical or financial obligations on certain undertakings which they would not have imposed on others, or
• Require tests and evidence that overlap with objective evidence already available.
  Negative decisions on qualifications must be communicated to applicants within 15 days of the decision, stating the reasons. These reasons must relate to the aforementioned assessment criteria.

The successful companies are included in a list, whereby a breakdown by contract type is possible, for which the individual suppliers, contractors or service providers are qualified.
Contracting authorities can only withdraw a company's qualification for reasons based on the criteria mentioned. The company concerned must be notified of the intended withdrawal in writing at least 15 days before the date scheduled for the withdrawal of the qualification, stating the reasons.