Public procurement thresholds to be raised only a month after their decrease

Only a month after Parliament decreased the thresholds for holding public procurement tenders, the MPs will adopt new legislative amendments to raise again the minimum amount above which public procurement procedures will be mandatory. According to the Government, the new change in the provisions is because of a European directive.

“Back in November when we were passing the law, it was clear that new amendments will be necessary. This is not something we did not know. However, the changes we approved then will remain in force. The new amendments will concern mostly special public procurement orders with regard to public or private companies operating in the system of security and defence,” explained to Klassa Valentin Nikolov from GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria).

These companies will have to hold public procurement tenders for assigning construction orders if the project is worth more than BGN 4 mln and orders for supplies and services exceeding BGN 400,000, VAT excluded. This is stipulated in the amendments to the Public Procurement Act, adopted by the Government at its meeting on December 7, 2011, introducing the recent changes in European legislation in this area. The Cabinet also proposed to increase by 10% the minimum thresholds for holding public procurement tenders in the security system and change the conditions in order to reserve certain orders for specialised enterprises. Public procurement orders in the system of security and defence will be assigned after a limited procedure or negotiated through an advertisement. The EU directive does not allow for holding an open procedure in such cases.

The new amendments stipulate that public procurement tenders should be held for construction exceeding BGN 264,000 or BGN 1.65 mln if the construction is implemented abroad.

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