Tender

Innovative public procurement contract

Through a negotiated procedure without prior publication (OPZB), AquaFlanders launched a contract based on a competitive tender process. Market participants wishing to take part in the contract must first demonstrate that they meet the requirements relating to cybersecurity and the GDPR (deadline 21 November 2025). If these requirements are met, they will receive two weeks’ worth of data from the water companies. Based on this, they must draw up a tender demonstrating how their algorithm can detect and localise leaks. This tender must be submitted by 20 March 2026.

AquaFlanders will evaluate these proposals and select the eight best algorithms to take part in the Proof of Concept. These parties will be provided with two years’ worth of data on which they can effectively test their algorithms. The results will then be assessed. There is a pre-determined prize of €60,000, which will be shared amongst the eight parties taking part in the PoC. The top three parties will be asked to draw up a business case as well.

Timeline and next steps

AquaFlanders published the tender specifications on 24 October 2025 on publicprocurement.be. By the deadline of 21 November, 19 candidates had submitted the documents relating to GDPR and cybersecurity. They all met the requirements and were therefore sent two weeks’ worth of data on 26 January 2026. On this basis, 12 tenders were submitted. Of these, 8 market participants were selected for the next phase. They were granted access to a two-year dataset, compiled using data from district metered areas (DMAs) provided by Pidpa and De Watergroep. Based on this, the market participants can further develop and validate their solutions using real-world data from water companies.