What are the conditions I have to fulfill to participate in the Open Call?

• The European Single Procurement Document (ESPD) is a self-declaration of the businesses' financial status, abilities and suitability for a public procurement procedure. 
• To participate in the Open Call every office has to upload an ESPD.
• An ESPD remains valid as long as the content is correct.
• An ESPD is a PDF-file.

The Flemish Government Architects Team has made a model for the ESPD in .xml format. This format is only usable on the website where you can generate the final document. You can't edit or generate this document with an app on your computer. To create your ESPD follow these steps:

1. Download (right mouse button > save as) the ESPD.request.xml file.
2. Navigate to the ESPD-service and choose your language.
3. Check the mark 'I am an economic operator'
4. Subsequently check 'Import an ESPD (request or response)'
5. Upload the ESPD.request.xml file you downloaded in step 1
6. Select the country where you are located (place of residence of the office you apply with)
7. Fill in parts II through V (no signature is necessary)
8. Click the button 'overview' on the bottom of the page
9. Download the file in 'both formats' at the bottom of the page
10. Go to the 'My Open Call' page > click on the 'My profile' button on the top right > Upload the PDF document at '1. Grounds for exclusion > ESPD > edit' and enter the date the file was made.
11. Click 'Save'.

No, with this ESPD you certify that none of the mandatory grounds for exclusion, grounds for exclusion related to tax and social debts and optional grounds for exclusion (articles 67 to 69 of the Public Procurement Act) apply to you. The Flemish Government Architects Team will check this through documents from the 'Crossroads Bank for Enterprises' for Belgian offices or through the requested documents for foreign applicants.

Only when you are invited to submit a tender will you have to include subcontracters in the ESPD that you have to provide at that stage. This ESPD (as part of the tender) is a different document than the ESPD included in your office profile.

Subcontractors are never required to provide an ESPD unless you rely on the capacity of one during the application phase. In that case you will have to add an ESPD for the subcontractor. This is only required when you effectively apply for a specific project.

Non-Belgian offices have to upload these documents in their profile:

1. Proof of compliance with social security obligations
2. Proof of tax compliance
3. Proof of non-bankruptcy and financial status 

Documents by foreign offices regarding exclusion grounds are preferably provided in English. If not available in English you can provide them in the original language.

If these documents can't be provided on time a self-declaration drawn up by the office is sufficient for the time being. After receipt of the actual documents these should be uploaded as soon as possible to your office profile.

The documents remain valid for 180 days from the date of issue on the document

Documents regarding proof of compliance with social security obligations, tax compliance or non-bankruptcy and financial status have local equivalents or are non-existent in some countries. On the European Community website you can find possible equivalents for the required documents in EU-membership states.

If you reside in an EU-member state more information is available on this website: 

• https://ec.europa.eu/tools/ecertis/#/search
• select your country
• check 'criteria' on top of the page en search the list for the criteria 'Payment of taxes', 'Payment of social security obligations' and 'Insolvency'
• click on the magnifying glass on the right next to a criterion to see the linked equivalent(s) available in your country

If no equivalents are available a self-declaration drawn up by your office is sufficient.

Not necessarily. The membership requirement is set for every project individually. If you wish to apply for a project where membership is mandatory you can:

• Apply with your office if you have a membership
• Apply with another office (or offices) as a temporary company where at least one of the partners has a membership.
• You can NOT rely on the capacity of a subcontractor for meeting the membership requirement.

• Proof of membership of the (equivalent of) the Order of Architects in your country
• This is only required for some projects, not all of them.

For Belgian candidates

If you are a member of the Flemish or Walloon Order of Architects: fill in your membership number.

For non-Belgian candidates

If you are a member of a professional architects association: upload proof of membership.

You can add another office to your application that fulfills this requirement. It is sufficient if one of the partners of a temporary company is a member.

Within your office the managing director or an employee (with an employment contract with the office) can be member of the (local equivalent of) the Order of Architects. The membership can be personal as well as in the name of the company.

Not necessarily. The requirement is set for every project individually. Registration is only necessary if the project entails the creation of a spatial implementation plan. This is a rare occurrence in the Open Call.

For some projects (specifically including the creation of a spatial implementation plan) a registration as a spatial planner is required. 
More information on the site of the Environment Department of the Flemish Government.
When you want to apply for an Open Call project the project guidelines will include the specific requirements for that project. You will only have to provide proof of registration if you apply for a project for which this is required. You can always add or edit this information in your Open Call profile so it is available for an application. The information can obviously also be supplied during an application.

If you are a spatial planner, you can always register, including foreign planners, if you meet the requirements.

The registration as a spatial planner is only necessary if you apply for a project where this is required; if so, this will be stated in the project guidelines during the application.

More information can be found at https://omgeving.vlaanderen.be/nl/ruimtelijk-beleid-en-planning/bestemmingsplannen-grups-gewestplan/register-ruimtelijke-planners 

This can be the managing director or an employee with an employment contract with the office.

There are 2 possible options available during the application:

1. You can apply as a temporary company with another registered office that provides it's own project(s)
2. You rely on the capacity of a subcontractor for additional projects

In both cases the number of projects will be added to reach the required three projects. The choice for either of these options can be made when you effectively apply for an Open Call project.

• You have to provide 3 projects.
• The fee or competition renumeration for the project has to have been at least €1.000.
• The project has to have reached the stage of competition design, preliminary design, urban planning permit, execution dossier, execution of works, provisional delivery or completion of study assignment (master plans, ...) in the last 3 years.

No, these have to be projects carried out in your own name. These projects only serve to show that you are professionally active as a designer, they will not be assessed in terms of content. If you can't provide three projects in your own name and you wish to participate in the Open Call you will have to apply as a temporary company or rely on the capacity of a subcontractor.

We are obliged to impose minimum requirements on applicants for the Open Call due to public procurement legislation. We have opted to keep the threshold for participation as low as possible as it is our intention to allow an as broad as possible array of designers access to the Open Call. We only ask you to show that you are active as a designer; you can do this by demonstrating participation in an architectural competition for which you received a minimum fee of €1.000 or a design project that you invoiced to a customer. You are after all applying for the execution of a public procurement project so we expect you to have experience with the substantive, practical and financial aspects of architectural briefs or spatial vplanning.

The provided projects will not be assessed in terms of content; the evaluation for the selection restriction of candidates is based on specific reference projects we ask you to provide in the application module.

Your understanding of the challenges posed by the assignment will be assessed. The quality of your initial reading of the existing context, preconditions and challenges of the assignment will be assessed here.  

Please note: design proposals are not expected; if included, they will not be considered. 

Assessment elements to consider include attention to the context of the brief, future-proofing (sustainability, suitability for reuse, etc.), utility value (usability, functionality, efficiency, etc.) and experiential value (attractiveness, familiarity, etc.). The more substantial your role in the creation of the reference, the more positively the client will factor this into the assessment.

The assessment is done in a global, general and reasoned manner. The fact that a number of assessment elements are listed does not detract from this. No separate weight is given to specific elements and they are not systematically assessed. 

You can rely on the capacity fo a subcontractor.

Yes you can. You may enter here specific references that you have carried out at another company.

You do not have to rely on the other company's resources for this. However, you should mention that you carried out this project at another company and state your role in the project.