EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
Despite the unstable political situation over the past year, public procurement in the Republic of Bulgaria has maintained relatively stable levels in terms of the number of launched procurements and the amount of their financing. On the other hand, in anticipation of the start of the new programming period 2014-2020, the number of launched European projects for September and for the previous months of 2014 is very low and therefore European projects will not be the subject of analysis in this material. Bizmonitor's monthly report is a detailed analysis and statistics on all awarded procurements and launched projects in Bulgaria and is published on www.bizmontior.bg, where every Bulgarian citizen has access to interactive statistics on launched projects and procurements. Such functionality has its clear business applications, and could also be useful for media, various non-governmental organizations and even state institutions.
Public procurement
In September 2014, 1086 public procurement contracts were awarded in Bulgaria, reaching a total value of 749 million leva. 81% of them received state funding, and 19% were partially or fully funded by the European Union. The trends compared to the previous three months of 2014 were observed to be maintained, with the number of contracts and the amount of their funding remaining within the limits of the previous June, July and August.
Using the classification of www.bizportal.bg, public procurement for the month can be divided into 16 economic sectors. It is interesting to note that for another month there is an overconcentration of funds in a small number of economic sectors. In the sectors "Construction and Real Estate" and "Mechanical Engineering and Technological Equipment" there are concentrated procurements worth a total of 593 million leva, which is equal to 79% of the total financing of public procurement for the month of September 2014. For comparison, the least funded sector "Education and Training Services" receives a total financing of 431 thousand leva.
The territorial distribution of public procurement for September 2014. extends over 28 municipal regions of the country. Logically, as the strongest economic center in the country, 202 public procurements or 19% of the total number of procurements for the month were launched in the capital Sofia. The value of these procurements is BGN 122 million, which is equivalent to 16% of the total financing of the regions. For another month, the Stara Zagora region makes a pleasant impression in the top positions with a higher concentration of public procurements compared to large regions such as Plovdiv, Burgas, Varna.
In September 2014, the 20 projects with the highest funding received 272 million leva or 36% of the total funding for public procurement for the month. The largest contracting authorities on this list include municipalities, hospitals and state-owned enterprises. The project with the highest funding for the month is related to the analysis of the operational life of unit 5 of the Kozloduy NPP – almost 86 million leva. It was awarded to the Consortium "Rusatom Service-Concern Rosenergoatom-EDF". In second place is the contract with the subject "Design and construction of the Arena Burgas sports hall" worth 38 million leva, won by DZZD "Dvorana".
In September 2014, 825 public procurements or 76% of public procurements for the period were with an open announcement procedure. The other 24% are distributed between negotiation without announcement, without prior publication and others. During the same period, 220 public procurements were awarded to two or more companies for a given number of separate positions or to one company for two or more separate positions. This is equivalent to 20% of public procurements for the month. The electronic auction as a future mandatory method in the procedure for awarding public procurements is almost completely absent, with only 2 contracts being awarded with an electronic auction.
For the first ten months of 2014, public procurements worth 7.761 billion leva have been accumulated, and by the end of the year the total value of the funds spent may reach 10 billion leva. Public procurements in Bulgaria are equal to about 17% of the country's gross domestic product. These are also the average values for the EU member states, which clearly shows the importance of public procurements on a European and global scale.
The above once again clearly confirms the need for increased public control over the processes of distributing public finances – in this case, when awarding public procurement contracts in the country. Transparency, accessible and timely information and compliance with legal requirements are important prerequisites for creating an effective environment in which the public procurement market in Bulgaria can develop and meet public requirements and needs. Follow Bizmonitor's monthly monitoring at www.bizmonitor.bg for detailed information and analysis of public procurement in Bulgaria.
