1

Bulgarian Contribution
to
the Monitoring Report
of
the European Commission
Update for the period
28 April 2006- 14 July 2006 Content of the Bulgarian Contribution to the Monitoring Report of the
European Commission
1. POLITICAL CRITERIA
2. ANNEX- Report on the programme for the implementation of the
strategy for transparent governance and for prevention and
counteraction of corruption for the period january - june 2006
3. ECONOMIC CRITERIA
4. ABILITY TO ASSUME THE OBLIGATIONS OF MEMBERSHIP - CHAPTERS OF THE
ACQUIS:
CHAPTER 1: FREE MOVEMENT OF GOODS
CHAPTER 2: FREE MOVEMENT OF PERSONS
CHAPTER 3: FREEDOM TO PROVIDE SERVICES
CHAPTER 4: FREE MOVEMENT OF CAPITAL
CHAPTER 5: COMPANY LAW
CHAPTER 7: AGRICULTURE
CHAPTER 8: FISHERIES
CHAPTER 9: TRANSPORT POLICY
CHAPTER 10: TAXATION
CHAPTER 13: SOCIAL POLICY AND EMPLOYMENT
CHAPTER 14: ENERGY
CHAPTER 15: INDUSTRIAL POLICY
CHAPTER 19: TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
CHAPTER 21: REGIONAL POLICY AND COORDINATION OF STRUCTURAL
INSTRUMENTS
CHAPTER 22: ENVIRONMENT
CHAPTER 23: CONSUMERS AND HEALTH PROTECTION
CHAPTER 24: CO-OPERATION IN THE FIELD OF JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS
CHAPTER 28: FINANCIAL CONTROL
TRANSLATION OF THE ACQUIS INTO BULGARIAN Chapter 1 "Free movement of goods" Public procurement
EC Finding/Recommendation:
Amendments have to be made to the implementing legislation on public
procurement as a consequence of the new laws, and a whole set of
implementing legislation on concessions is being drafted to enter into
force in June 2006.
Preparations in the field of public procurement need to be completed as
regards implementing rules. State of Play: The first Law on Public procurement in Bulgaria entered into force in 1999.
The current Public Procurement Law (PPL) was adopted in March 2004 and was
in full compliance with procurement Directives that were in force in the EU
at that time. In April 2006 the National Assembly adopted a Law on
Amendment of the Public Procurement Law. The amendments implement the
requirements of the new Directives 2004/18/EC and 2004/17/EC and the
requirements of Directives 89/665/EEC and 92/13/EEC related to the review
of the procurement procedures.
One of the main consequences of the amendments to the Law is the change of
the review system. All decisions, actions or lack of actions of the
contracting authorities in the procedure for the award of public contracts
and the granting of concessions are liable to review before a specialized
administrative body as first instance - the Commission for Protection of
Competition (CPC).
The new Concessions Law was also adopted in April and entered into force on
1 July 2006. It is in full compliance with the acquis and provides for the
same review system as the PPL.
With the adopted legislation on public procurement and concessions Bulgaria
applies requirements which are entirely harmonized with Directives
2004/18/EC, 2004/17/EC, 89/665/EEC and 92/13/EEC. Progress since 28 April 2006: . Secondary legislation: Following the amendments to the PPL new Rules for the implementation of the
law have been elaborated and the Ordinance for the award of small public
procurement contracts has been amended. The two pieces of secondary
legislation were adopted by the Council of Ministers on 14 June 2006 (State
Gazette No 53/30.06.2006).
In line with EC Regulation 1564/2005 introducing the European standard
forms, new contract and award notices, which are used in the award of
public contracts, have been elaborated. The standard forms were approved by
Order No RD-16-478/31.05.2006 of the Minister of Economy and Energy and
published in State Gazette No 49/16.06.2006.
The Rules for the implementation of the Concessions Law were adopted by the
Council of Ministers on 22 June 2006 (State Gazette No 54/04.07.2006).
The adopted secondary legislation was consulted with the relevant
Commission Services and with the adoption of the acts the process of
harmonization of EU acquis on public procurement was completed. . Administrative Capacity As a result of the Law for Amendments to the PPL and the new powers of the
executive director of the Public Procurement Agency (PPA) provided in it,
the staff of the Agency has been increased by 15 new staff positions. At
present the Agency has a staff number of 53 staff positions.
With a view of fulfillment of the new functions of the Commission for the
Protection of Competitions, the structure and organization of work of
Commission have been changed. Two new directorates have been established -
"Public Procurement" and "Concessions and State Aid" and the staff has been
increased by 40 new staff positions.
The pilot training of contracting authorities, conducted by experts from
the Public Procurement Agency, TAIEX and SIGMA, started at the end of
April. Up to the present moment about 200 people from the classical and
utilities sectors, experts from the state authorities and intermediate
units in the operational programmes for the spending of Structural funds
and the Cohesion funds, from the CPC and the controlling bodies have
undergone training on the new public procurement rules. In addition a
number of seminars have been organized in cooperation with non-governmental
organizations.
Thus, all the necessary administrative capacity of the competent
authorities in the field of public procurement has been established and the
program for training of all stakeholders is continuing according to the
schedule that has been agreed with European Commission Services. . Enforcement Record Since the entry into force of PPL on 01.10.2004 till 27.06.2006 13 783
procedures were opened, 5 359 under the PPL and 8 424 under the Ordinance
for the award of small public procurement contracts. The total value of the
concluded contracts is BGN 4 762 216 768.
For the period 01.01.2005-31.12.2005 8 396 procedures were opened, 3 228
under the PPL and 5 168 under the Ordinance. The open competition under the
Ordinance has been used in 3 867 cases and the open procedure under the PPL
- in 2 047 cases. The procedures which were completed with conclusion of
contract are 6 115. The total value of the concluded contracts is BGN
3 329 711 198.
The control over the application of the PPL in Bulgaria is exercised by two
bodies: the Public Financial Inspection Agency (previous PIFCA) and the
National Audit Office of the Republic of Bulgaria.
In 2005 the controlling bodies checked 1 369 contracting authorities which
have conducted 6 399 procedures in total. From all the procedures checked
1 705 were under the PPL and 4 694 - under the Ordinance for the award of
small public procurement contracts. A total of 1 609 violations have been
established.
According to the category type of contracting authority the most numerous
checked bodies are the municipalities, 24.3% of all checks, followed by the
educational institutions - 17.38%, budgetary enterprises - 15.55% and
bodies governed by public law - 11.10%.
The cases where it was established that no procedure was conducted when
there were grounds for this are 641. This type of violation has affected
resources at the total value of BGN 98 491 000 (representing 2.96% of the
total amount of procurement for that period.)
1 599 conducted procedures for the award of public contracts at the total
value of BGN 242 833 233 were checked from the beginning of 2006 to
23.06.2006. 473 violations were established in 249 procedures at the value
of BGN 34 697 839. The cases when it was established that no procedure was
conducted when there were grounds for this are 84 at the value of BGN
9 487 876. 137 statements for administrative violations were drawn against
106 persons. The established violations are mostly related to technical
issues but all the cases of serious violations have been referred to the
Prosecutor's office.
The enforcement record clearly shows that in Bulgaria public procurement
rules are respected and that strict control on contracting authorities is
imposed with the appropriate sanctions for the established violations and
criminal procedures for the serious offences. . Other relevant developments: The Public procurement register (PPR) and the Concessions register were
established under the Public procurement Law and under the Concessions law.
They serve as the main instrument for the provision of the principles of
publicity and transparency in the public procurement system in Bulgaria.
The PPR is elaborated in line with the latest solutions in the field of
information and communication technologies and is one of 20 e-services
which the Bulgarian administration provides to the citizens and the
business. It is public and free of charge, accessible through the internet
site of the PPA. The PPR offers an online service for filling in the
standard forms of notices for opening of procedure and the award of public
contracts. This service is available to contracting authority who possess
electronic signature and who are authorized user