There is a calendar of Belgian public procurement that everyone knows: a trough in August, a peak in October, silence between Christmas and New Year. It is accurate, and it describes almost no sector in particular. Of the 576,156 notices published in Belgium between 2021 and 2025 with a submission deadline, twenty-four CPV divisions out of thirty-seven peak somewhere other than October. Fourteen of them peak in May or July. Here is each one's calendar.
The national average describes nobody
Across all divisions, October accounts for 10.4% of the year's notices and the fourth quarter for 27.4%. Both figures are correct, and both are the sum of curves that contradict each other: while construction work publishes 11.2% of its year in October, research and development publishes 14.1% of its own in July, and landscaping services 11.1% in December. An average that adds up opposite seasons no longer describes either of them.
10.4 %
of Belgian notices appear in October, the busiest month across all divisions
24 / 37
CPV divisions peak somewhere other than October
18
divisions whose weakest month of the year, August aside, is January
The consequence is straightforward. "Get ready for October" is sound advice for thirteen sectors out of thirty-seven. For the other twenty-four, it points at the wrong month.
The calendar, division by division
The thirty-seven CPV divisions with at least 1,500 notices over five years, ordered by peak month, from January to December. For each one: its volume of notices, the share of the year its best month carries, its weakest month and its fourth-quarter share. The weakest month is given excluding August: August is almost everyone's trough and teaches nobody anything, whereas the second trough genuinely varies by sector. Every division with a page of its own here links to it.
| CPV division | Notices 2021-2025 | Peak month share | Weakest month (excl. August) | Q4 share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peaks in January | ||||
| 64 Postal and telecommunications services | 2,508 | 10.3 % | February 6.2 % | 27.5 % |
| Peaks in February | ||||
| 60 Transport services | 4,540 | 11.3 % | January 4.5 % | 24.2 % |
| Peaks in April | ||||
| 42 Industrial machinery | 9,489 | 9.7 % | January 6.8 % | 26.1 % |
| 22 Printed matter | 3,406 | 10.6 % | January 6.1 % | 22.1 % |
| Peaks in May | ||||
| 30 Office and computing equipment | 11,421 | 10.7 % | November 6.8 % | 24.8 % |
| 44 Construction materials | 10,403 | 10.0 % | January 6.5 % | 24.7 % |
| 66 Financial and insurance services | 8,515 | 12.0 % | January 4.8 % | 26.0 % |
| 80 Education and training | 5,954 | 10.1 % | January 5.4 % | 27.3 % |
| 55 Hotel and catering | 5,137 | 11.6 % | September 6.6 % | 22.5 % |
| 03 Agricultural and forestry products | 3,394 | 12.6 % | January 5.5 % | 30.1 % |
| 85 Health and social services | 2,631 | 10.9 % | March 5.7 % | 26.6 % |
| 92 Culture, sport and recreation | 1,642 | 12.5 % | January 6.2 % | 23.3 % |
| Peaks in June | ||||
| 70 Real estate services | 2,208 | 10.7 % | April 6.3 % | 28.6 % |
| Peaks in July | ||||
| 48 Software and information systems | 21,720 | 10.2 % | January 6.0 % | 26.8 % |
| 72 IT services | 19,179 | 11.0 % | February 6.8 % | 25.6 % |
| 38 Laboratory and precision equipment | 12,382 | 10.5 % | March 6.2 % | 27.4 % |
| 98 Other personal services | 3,195 | 11.3 % | January 5.8 % | 24.6 % |
| 63 Auxiliary transport services | 2,375 | 11.1 % | March 6.2 % | 25.6 % |
| 73 Research and development | 1,735 | 14.1 % | February 4.8 % | 30.1 % |
| Peaks in September | ||||
| 71 Architecture and engineering | 50,869 | 9.7 % | January 7.0 % | 25.8 % |
| Peaks in October | ||||
| 45 Construction work | 182,168 | 11.2 % | January 6.9 % | 27.8 % |
| 79 Business services | 35,145 | 10.5 % | February 6.5 % | 27.6 % |
| 33 Medical equipment and pharmaceuticals | 34,740 | 10.0 % | January 6.4 % | 27.2 % |
| 90 Waste, sewage and environment | 24,219 | 10.1 % | February 6.9 % | 28.2 % |
| 34 Vehicles and transport equipment | 20,855 | 10.9 % | February 5.2 % | 28.4 % |
| 50 Repair and maintenance | 16,640 | 10.2 % | January 5.2 % | 28.5 % |
| 39 Furniture and household appliances | 14,396 | 9.7 % | January 6.7 % | 26.1 % |
| 32 Telecommunications and broadcasting | 10,049 | 10.7 % | March 6.1 % | 30.3 % |
| 31 Electrical equipment and lighting | 7,489 | 12.0 % | February 6.4 % | 28.3 % |
| 18 Clothing and footwear | 7,476 | 12.1 % | February 6.0 % | 27.6 % |
| 09 Energy and fuels | 7,284 | 12.4 % | February 6.0 % | 30.6 % |
| 43 Construction and quarrying machinery | 3,115 | 12.4 % | January 5.9 % | 31.3 % |
| 24 Chemical products | 2,116 | 11.3 % | January 5.0 % | 27.9 % |
| Peaks in November | ||||
| 37 Musical instruments and sports goods | 2,314 | 10.8 % | September 6.3 % | 28.9 % |
| Peaks in December | ||||
| 15 Food products | 10,784 | 10.5 % | February 5.9 % | 30.0 % |
| 77 Agricultural and landscaping services | 9,696 | 11.1 % | June 6.0 % | 30.8 % |
| 35 Security, fire-fighting and defence | 4,967 | 11.0 % | January 5.2 % | 31.0 % |
Source: GPC Gov, Belgian publications 2021-2025 carrying a submission deadline — 576,156 notices spread across the thirty-seven divisions with at least 1,500 notices, together 98.9% of the market.
In green, the divisions whose fourth quarter carries more weight than the national average (27.4%).
Four ways to have a calendar
The thirty-seven divisions fall into four families. Three of them look nothing like what is usually written about the seasons of public buying.
The autumn sectors: October, and quickly
Thirteen divisions do peak in October, and they are the heaviest: construction work alone carries 182,168 notices, with 11.2% of its year in October. Around it, construction machinery (12.4%), energy and fuels (12.4%), clothing (12.1%) and electrical equipment (12.0%) peak more sharply still. This is the family for which the usual advice holds without reservation — and also the one that falls away fastest: electrical equipment goes from 12.0% in October to 6.4% in February.
The spring sectors: May, and certainly not January
Eight divisions publish their best month in May: agricultural products (12.6%), culture, sport and recreation (12.5%), financial and insurance services (12.0%), hotel and catering (11.6%), health and social services (10.9%), office equipment (10.7%), education and training (10.1%) and construction materials (10.0%). Five of them have January as their weakest month. The clearest case is hotel and catering: 22.5% across the whole fourth quarter, second from bottom in the table. For that sector, spring is the commercial season.
The summer sectors: July, when everyone has left
Six divisions have their best month in July, and the sharpest of all is research and development: 14.1% of its year in a single month, the steepest peak in the table. Then come other personal services (11.3%), auxiliary transport services (11.1%), IT services (11.0%), laboratory and precision equipment (10.5%) and software (10.2%). The two computing divisions together carry 40,899 notices: for a company in the sector, easing off in July means missing its best month.
The year-end sectors: November and December
Four divisions wait until the very end of the year. Landscaping services publish 11.1% of their year in December and their weakest month is June — the exact opposite of intuition. Security, fire-fighting and defence reach 11.0% in December and 31.0% across the quarter, the second highest in the table. Food products reach 10.5% in December. And musical instruments and sports goods form the only division in the country to peak in November (10.8%) — precisely when the rest of the market collapses.
January, the real trough
August is the reflex answer, and a correct one: it is the weakest month of almost every division. But set it aside, since it teaches nobody anything, and the month that comes up most often is not the one you would expect. For eighteen divisions out of thirty-seven, the year's second trough is January.
The figures are low: 4.5% of the year for transport services, 4.8% for insurance and for research and development alike, 5.0% for chemical products, 5.2% for vehicles, repair and maintenance, and security. The mechanism is familiar to buyers: in January the year's budgets are voted but rarely committed, and the purchasing department finishes the procedures opened in autumn rather than starting new ones.
And no, contracts below the publication threshold do not rescue January: they place 6.1% of their annual volume there, their third weakest month after July and August. Their value lies elsewhere — in November, where they carry 10.7% of the year while conventional notices hit bottom, and in June and September, their two best months. What they do cover is found on no official platform at all.
The practical consequence is the same for everyone: a January pipeline is not filled in January. With a median submission window of thirty-four days, it is filled with the notices published in November and December — the shift our article on the November drop describes.
What this changes for your monitoring
A sector calendar is not there to help you publish at the right time — the buyer decides that. It is there to spread the effort across the year, and to stop you concluding from an empty month that your monitoring has broken down.
- 1. Find your division, not your quarter. If your peak falls in May or July, October's bustle is not yours — and neither is November's calm.
- 2. Put the heavy preparation in your weakest month. Accreditations, certificates, references, a standard technical submission: it is the only time you have any room, and it falls on a different date for every sector.
- 3. Count in submission days, not publication months. Thirty-four days is the median window: a notice from your peak month is submitted the month after, and that is the month to keep free.
- 4. Your sector is not in the table? Then it carries fewer than 1,500 notices over five years at division level. Your contracts do exist: they are counted on finer codes than the first two digits.
Methodology
The figures cover 582,434 notices published in Belgium between 2021 and 2025 carrying a submission deadline. Each notice is filed under its main CPV code, grouped on its first two digits — the division. Only divisions with at least 1,500 notices appear in the table: below that, a peak month can no longer be told apart from chance.
Three limits worth knowing. The window is made of complete calendar years: adding 2026, whose final quarter has not happened yet, would mechanically flatten every sector's fourth-quarter share. The main CPV code does not summarise a contract split into several lots. And a division is not a trade: division 45, "construction work", covers roofing as well as road works, which do not share a season.