The Kenniscentrum Digisprong published a public procurement in early April 2026 that is worth reading carefully. Not because public procurements are generally compelling reading, but because this one explicitly asks for open source expertise, didactic depth and knowledge of digital sovereignty. Budget: up to 700,000 euros. Deadline for tenders: 1 June 2026. Information session: 5 May 2026.

For anyone who wants to know the background of Digisprong: read our earlier article first. The short version: the Flemish government has spent five years quietly building an open source learning infrastructure for its two million people in education, and is now taking that to the next level by making open source the content theme of its professional development as well.

What the procurement concretely asks for

The procurement (reference OND/KCDigisprong/2026/opensource) is split into two lots. You can tender for one or both. The two are naturally complementary, and being able to deliver both opens up possibilities that strengthen both outcomes.

Lot 1 centres on developing and offering a complete online course catalogue on open source applications, hosted on the government platform e-leren.be (Moodle/H5P/Xerte). The Knowledge Centre expects at least 40 e-modules, split across two tracks.

The track for teachers (20 modules) covers, among others: updates to three existing Xerte modules, open source office software (LibreOffice, OnlyOffice), graphic tools (GIMP, Scribus, Penpot), video editing (OBS Studio), the Linux operating system, collaboration tools (Nextcloud, CryptPad, Etherpad, Collabora), portfolio management (Mahara), didactic tools (GeoGebra, Xournal+), audio (Audacity, VLC), browsers (Firefox), hardware (Arduino, Raspberry Pi at introductory level) and tools for online teaching (BigBlueButton, Jitsi Meet).

The track for ICT coordinators and ICT teams (20 modules) is considerably more technical: advanced Linux system administration, identity and access management (Keycloak, Authentik, Casdoor), device management (Headwind MDM, FleetDM), monitoring and security (Wazuh, Grafana, Kibana, pfSense), DevOps and interoperability (GitHub, LTI, xAPI, QTI), content management and storage (Nextcloud/OpenCloud with Collabora), video platforms (PeerTube), planning and administration (iTop, Unitime) and password management (KeePassXC).

These two tracks differ fundamentally in tone and depth. One calls for didactic creativity and knowledge of classroom practice. The other requires sysadmin expertise and familiarity with infrastructure management in a school context.

Beyond the 40 modules, Lot 1 also includes coaching and support throughout the contract period: at least 6 and at most 10 collective coaching initiatives of at least 30 minutes each, plus at least 2 hours of individual or group support per month. The procurement also expects the contractor to organise a study day for 150 participants from all educational levels, with a programme for both ICT teams and teachers (rooms are provided by Digisprong; organisation and promotion fall to the contractor).

The duration is 27 months, with the option of one extension of 1 year.

Lot 2 is more hands-on and coaching-oriented: guiding 50 schools or school groups through an effective transition to open source in their ICT policy. Not a one-day workshop, but a multi-month process per school (at least 6 intervention moments, including one physical intake meeting). Per school, you deliver concrete policy output: an open source decision framework, a roadmap, additions to the ICT policy plan, and an adoption and communication plan. Geographic spread across educational levels is an explicit expectation.

The award criteria are telling: 45% quality of approach, 35% price, 20% expertise. Quality counts more than price. There is also room to develop knowledge along the way.

Who can tender?

The formal threshold is low: minimum annual turnover of 50,000 euros and three relevant references from the past three years. That is accessible for small and medium-sized organisations.

The substantive bar is considerably higher. The procurement explicitly references the DigCompEdu framework (the European competence framework for the digital skills of educators), the multimedia principles of Mayer and Gagné’s nine events of instruction (both standard fare in instructional design and e-learning development), the EDBI instrument for measuring the effectiveness of coaching interventions, and Pictos, Digisprong’s planning tool for ICT policy plans in schools. For Lot 2, technical depth is also expected: installation and configuration of open source systems, migration support, network management, identity and access management.

Nobody has all of that in house. That is precisely the point.

Cooperation as an asset

This is a procurement designed for collaboration. The ideal tenderer probably does not exist as a single organisation, but as a consortium of players who complement each other.

Profiles that are looking for each other:

• A project manager who can coordinate the whole
• Experts in building course materials with experience in Moodle, H5P and/or Xerte
• Open source consultants and system administrators familiar with the tools in the procurement
• Educational coaches and trajectory supervisors with experience in ICT policy support in schools
• Associations and organisations active in digital sovereignty and open source education

The combination of didactic expertise (Lot 1) and technical and policy-level guidance (Lot 2) calls for a team broad enough to carry both parts, yet focused enough to present a coherent vision.

At BeLibre, we are currently bringing together a group of Belgian open source players who are considering jointly setting up a cooperative. Smaller partners can in this way join a consortium without bearing the full administrative and financial burden alone. If you are interested, get in touch with Christopher Peeters at christopher@belibre.be.

Why this is worth your time

This is not a standard government contract. Most procurements in the education domain ask for implementation of existing commercial platforms, integration of SaaS services, or rollout of Microsoft or Google products. This one asks for the opposite: help schools understand why they should not be dependent on a single vendor, and give them the tools and knowledge to actually make that happen.

What you develop also remains available. Intellectual property rights transfer to the Flemish government for free use, which means the modules, guides and policy documents you create will also become available to schools outside the scope of the procurement. The impact reaches further than the 50 guided schools or the 40 modules.

For organisations that have been advocating for open source in the public sector for years, this is a chance to turn those arguments into something concrete: a contract where the government itself asks for exactly what you have been recommending all along.

Practical information

The information session takes place on 5 May 2026 at 14:00, online via Teams. Registration is open until 5 May at 11:00 via the link on the e-procurement platform. Questions about the procurement can be sent to kenniscentrumdigisprong@ond.vlaanderen.be (include the reference number). Tenders must be submitted electronically via publicprocurement.be, by 1 June 2026 at 12:00. Note: once submitted, you are bound by your tender for 120 calendar days.

Also read the data processing agreement in the annexes carefully. It is stricter than the GDPR on a number of points: a notification deadline of 24 hours for data breaches (the GDPR allows 72 hours), an obligation to process personal data exclusively on EU territory, and a requirement for prior written consent for every subcontractor processing personal data. For a consortium with multiple partners, this has procedural implications.

Interested in joining the cooperative that is taking shape? Contact Christopher Peeters at christopher@belibre.be.