Bulgaria: Amendments to the Bulgarian Public Procurement Act

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Bulgaria: Amendments to the Bulgarian Public Procurement Act

koleva.jpg

Rossitza Koleva

The Bulgarian government promulgated in May 2014 the law amending and supplementing one of the country's key economic laws, the Public Procurement Act (PPA), by introducing a number of changes, some effective as of July 1 2014 and others as of October 1 2014. The main target is to increase transparency and improve the supervision of procedures, as well as to eliminate the possibilities for corruption. The PPA is placed in a very dynamic environment – both at European and national level – and this determines the need for its adaptation. On the one hand the Act regulates the procedures to be followed for spending of public funds for the implementation of state, municipality and other public entity projects, while on the other hand, precisely because of this focus of the law, it could become, if applied effectively and correctly, one of the main levers of market regulation. The manner in which the Act is applied effects whether small and medium-sized enterprises will be encouraged, whether the market competition will increase, whether citizens will feel that public funds are being spent effectively and appropriately for the benefit of the community, and ultimately, whether the confidence in the institutions and the authority of the public sector will increase.

The amendments and supplements, once summarisied, can be broadly categorised as follows:

Measures to reduce the bureaucratic and administrative burden

One of the new obligations introduced in this direction is the obligation of authorities to publish all documents on the buyer's profile except for the confidential or classified information. Thus, in addition to achieving maximum publicity, it becomes unnecessary for participants to be forced to buy paper-based tender documentation.

Measures to improve the access of small, medium and start-up enterprises to public procurements

One of the changes here completely fulfills one of the requirements of Article 44 of Directive 2004/18/ EC, which defines that the scope of the information and the minimum requirements related to a specific procurement must be proportionate to the subject of the contract. The ultimate goal of this proposal is, by means of introducing the principle of proportionality, to create conditions for the development of competition.

Other amendments of the Act are geared towards:

  • refining definitions and procedure rules to promote competition and to reduce the administrative burden;

  • increasing the level of administrative expertise and qualification;

  • control of execution of contracts;

  • openness and transparency. The aim is to achieve full extent of publicity, not just for the procedures, but also for the execution of public contracts; and

  • labour protection and creating real opportunities for the implementation of procurement of specialised enterprises or cooperatives of people with disabilities.

All amendments here aim at providing opportunities for small and medium business, opportunities for new jobs, and opportunities for improving the effectiveness and appropriateness in spending public funds – either Bulgarian or European.

Rossitza Koleva (rossitza.koleva@eurofast.eu)

Eurofast Global, Sofia Office

Tel: +359 2 988 69 78

Website: www.eurofast.eu

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

The US president also unveiled a new 50% levy on copper imports; in other news, a UK wealth tax proposal has been criticised by the Institute for Fiscal Studies
Wim Wuyts, who had been head of the specialist tax network since 2017, is moving on to a new role with WTS’s Belgian member firm
MNEs are increasingly using algorithmic tools in TP. Sahasranshu Dash argues that data ethics should therefore plug directly into the TP design process
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales also queried whether HMRC resources could be better spent scrutinising larger entities
Grant Thornton’s Austria tax head likens his practice to an escape room, shares his football coaching ambitions, and explains why tax is cool
Awards
ITR is delighted to reveal all the shortlisted nominees for the 2025 EMEA Tax Awards
Awards
ITR is delighted to reveal all the shortlisted nominees for the 2025 Asia-Pacific Tax Awards
The fates of pillars one and two hang in the balance after the US successfully threw its weight around in G7 and Canadian negotiations
Rafael Tena tells ITR about the ‘crazy’ Mexican market, ditching the hourly rate, and refusing to grow his fledgling firm in an ‘unstructured way’
It should be easy for advisers to be transparent about costs, Brown Rudnick partner Matthew Sharp said in response to exclusive ITR in-house data
Gift this article