The Council of Ministers approved changes to the Law on Public Procurement

The Council of Ministers approved a draft Law amending and supplementing the Law on Public Procurement. The proposed amendments to the regulatory framework in the field of public procurement aim to achieve compliance of the law with the requirements of European legislation in the field of public procurement, fulfillment of commitments under the National Plan for Recovery and Sustainability and overcoming identified problems in the practice of contracting authorities.

The draft law was approved by Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 869 of November 3, 2022. It was submitted to the 48th National Assembly and was adopted at the first vote on December 14, 2023, but due to the suspension of its activities, the final adoption of the changes was not done. Therefore, it is proposed for new approval, the government information service announced.

The proposed changes introduce Directive (EU) 2019/1161 amending Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road vehicles, in the part concerning public procurement. In connection with achieving compliance with the requirements of Directive 2014/24/EU, it is proposed to drop three of the exceptions from the scope of the law, which refer to the construction and maintenance of border facilities, the purchase of certain drugs from medical facilities and the commissioning of activities in the forest territories for the creation of forests, extraction of wood and non-wood forest products, and the rules of the PPA will be applied to the listed activities. The changes are also related to the unification of the approach in determining the status of public and private medical institutions as contractors of public contracts.

Proposals were also made in connection with the commitments made in the National Plan for Recovery and Sustainability, which aim to reduce the use of negotiation procedures without announcement, as well as the share of orders awarded after one offer has been received. New increased sanctions are foreseen for contracting authorities who conduct a negotiation procedure without fulfilling the conditions under the law.

In order to promote centralized procurement, an additional opportunity is provided to create a central purchasing body for the needs of municipalities by act of the Council of Ministers.

The scope of the external control carried out by the AOP is being expanded. It is planned to introduce mandatory preliminary control of procedures worth more than BGN 5,000,000. The aim is to cover all significant public procurements, in relation to which there is a great public interest, given the significant financial resources that are spent on them and more the high degree of risk of admitting violations in discovery.

It is proposed that the monitoring based on a sample from the electronic platform CAIS EOP be carried out according to certain indicators, and the data obtained be provided to the bodies for subsequent control to carry out checks. These bodies are required to prepare and send a report on the results of the inspections and the identified problems in the implementation of the legislation on public procurement. Information from the monitoring will also be sent to the Commission for the Protection of Competition in connection with the ban under Art. 15 under the Competition Protection Act.

In connection with cases of incorrect application of the so-called "in house" assignment, a ban on sub-assignment of the subject of the contract or parts of it to other persons is proposed, as well as a sanction for its violation.

New, higher value thresholds are foreseen, in connection with the new delegated regulations of the EC and the increase of prices at the national and international level as a result of the dynamic levels of inflation.

With the adoption of the changes, compliance of the law with the requirements of the European legislation in the field of public procurement will be achieved and it will help to establish a correct and consistent practice.