Less than 1% of the public procurement procedures in Bulgaria comply with the requirements of the EU directives

Less than 1% of the public procurement procedures in Bulgaria are conducted following the requirements of the framework agreements with the European Union, according to an analysis of the Center for Public Procurement. If tender procedures were conducted under the EU directives, this would ensure the participation of all candidates on equal footing. It would also reduce the time for contractors’ selection and the real competition would lead to saving of money.

According to Vasil Velev, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Bulgarian Industrial Association , the reason for this is the large number of small public procurement tenders, launched in the country - for parts of projects and even for different activities, carried out on one site. According to data of the association, all major tenders and particularly those for the infrastructure projects comply with the rules.

"This was true two years ago, now things have changed radically, and most procedures meet the requirements of EU directives," said Ivan Boykov, Executive Director of the Chamber of Building Contractors in Bulgaria.

The tender for the Trakia Highway is a negative example in terms of this issue. Because of the fact, that no particular conditions for road safety were specified in the tender criteria, now a new tender has to be initiated for the type and quality of the guardrails. This will inevitably lead to an increase in the construction cost of the highway.

“A well prepared preliminary agreement, embedded in the tender conditions, can protect all the interests because it would foresee all the risks during project implementation. The possibilities for change in the contract should also be stipulated there - under what conditions this would be allowed,” stated further Vasil Velev. According to him, such contracts should be obligatory for all procedures above a certain value in order for their implementation to be ensured. One of the possible agreements is for the risks to be assumed entirely by contractors, which should be foreseen in the price bid as well.

Прочети цялата новина

Свързани новини: