Bulgaria's competition watchdog expects about 1,350 appeals over public procurement by the end of 2026. If the pace holds, it will open about 1,170 cases, its chairman, Assoc. Prof. Rosen Karadimov, said.
By 10 October the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) had received 1,046 appeals and opened 905 cases. "More than four-fifths of the cases we are looking at involve public procurement run by municipalities," Karadimov said. The CPC deals with these appeals before others.
He spoke at the annual meeting of local authorities, in a panel on the quality of investment as a condition for quality of life. The meeting was organised by the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria.
Contracts funded with EU money also go first. Karadimov said delays to them could hit projects for water supply, urban improvement and other public sites. He said the CPC checks whether tenders are legal. It does not judge whether they make sense, and it does not assess the quality of bids beyond its legal powers.
Karadimov named delays caused by appeals as a problem. The law allows early execution. In that case the contracting authority carries on with the tender and, under certain conditions, can sign a contract before the dispute is finally settled. The CPC looks at the request before the appeal itself. The request must give reasons and show evidence that the legal conditions are met. If the authority's decision later proves unlawful and cost the appellant the chance to take part or win, the penalty is 5% of the value of the signed contract.
The CPC also watches for companies that appeal many contracts in different sectors, and checks whether they abuse their right to appeal. If it finds signs of violations, it can refer the matter to the Economic Police and the prosecutor's office, which would check the links between the bidders. Karadimov said it is time to discuss changes to the law, including to penalties and appeal fees. The aim is to stop tenders being held up without good reason, without limiting the right to defence.
The fight against bid rigging is among the CPC's most important tasks. This is a cartel in which firms agree among themselves in a tender. "Such practices limit competition and can deprive contracting authorities of the chance to choose the best offer in real competitive conditions," Karadimov said. In seven months the commission has opened 8 such cases, and 7 of them are expected to end by the close of the year. Penalties are set for each case separately.
The law allows, but does not require, contracting authorities to exclude a bidder who is subject to a CPC act on bid rigging that has come into force. The commission has submitted a proposal to make exclusion mandatory, even if the ground is not stated explicitly in the tender documents. The bidder's chance to prove it is reliable stays where the law permits it.
The CPC has also prepared guidance on signs of possible cartels, to help contracting authorities review bids and report concerns in time.