Government procurement

The Road Infrastructure Agency of Bulgaria has relaunched the public procurement procedure to get a road toll system, its website shows.

The move, announced December 29, comes against the backdrop of a ban imposed by outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on calling new tenders or running current ones until the government in resignation is in office.

Outgoing Prime Minister Borisov has recommended to cabinet ministers to halt all public procurement orders unless these are inevitable and, if so, these should be discussed with the administration of president elect Rumen Radev, reported BGNES.

The European Union will open Chapter 5, on public procurement, in Serbia's membership negotiations on Dec. 13, in Brussels, Beta reported on Wednesday.

Chapter 25, on science and research and Chapter 26, culture and education, may be broached too, though Croatia currently has objections about Chapter 26.

Serbia is almost certain to next week open Chapter 5 (public procurement) in its EU accession talks, but could also open chapters 25 and 26, Tanjug reports.

These concern science and research, and education and culture.

The absorption of some of the 160 million euros, granted to Bulgaria by the European Commission in September, is under risk because of short time frames, outgoing Deputy Interior Minister Philip Gounev said on Thursday.

Sofia Military-District Prosecutor's Office has indicted outgoing Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev on charges of malfeasance.

According to the prosecution, Nenchev is responsible for a public procurement order for military uniforms which has defrauded the treasury.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has referred to reporters as "dirty, anti-Slovak prostitutes," when asked about corruption allegations.

The questions that provoked the outburst concerned claims that his government broke public procurement rules, RT is reporting on Thursday.

A total of 10 price offers have been offered for the design and construction of 9.3 km of the Hemus highway - the section between Yablanitsa and Boaza.

The cheapest offer is for BGN 5.4 M/km.

The indicative value of the public procurement offer is BGN 80 M, VAT excluded, reported the road agency.

A series of complaints filed with the Commission for the Protection of Competition (KZK) has blocked the public procurement order for the toll system yet again, showed data in the register of the anti-monopoly regulator.

Two of the complaints were filed on Monday and the third one is from Tuesday, reported investor.bg.

A new report by Besnik Osmani, Kosovo's Auditor General, has found numerous weaknesses in the public procurement process, including planning and contract management.

According to the report for 2015, presented to parliament on Wednesday, nearly 11,000 public contracts worth 402 million euros were signed in 2015.