38. Bulgaria

38.1. SMEs in the national economy

SMEs in Bulgaria play an important role in the “non-financial business economy”. They contribute to approximately two-thirds of total employment and more than half of value added.

38.2. National policy framework to support SMEs in public procurement

The National Strategy for Development of the Public Procurement Sector in Bulgaria over the period 2014-20 defines the objective of supporting SMEs in public procurement.

Bulgaria recognises that SMEs could benefit from public procurement rules that have been made simpler and more flexible in the new national procurement legislation, as well as from introduction of the mandatory e-procurement. More simplified procedures have been introduced for small-value procurements, as specified in Article 20 of the new public procurement legislation. Furthermore, the law provides the possibility of direct payments made to subcontractors, sets the limit on turnover requirements, and establishes the use of a single procurement document. Bulgaria also maintains a freely accessible public procurement register and portal that contains information on open tenders.

The Directorate of Central Purchasing and Public Procurement (CPPP) under the Ministry of Finance is entrusted with the responsibilities of central purchasing in Bulgaria. The CPPP has undertaken several measures to facilitate SME access to the public procurement market. These include proportionate selection criteria, wider publicity of procurement opportunities, and development of the e-procurement system, SEVOP, which also supports e-submission and e-evaluation.

Furthermore, the National Innovation Fund, based on Horizon 2020 (EU research and innovation programme) and the Small Business Act, identifies SMEs as one of the main target groups in developing innovation initiatives.

38.3. Implementation mechanisms

Bulgaria has published the Implementation Plan of the National Strategy for Development of the Public Procurement Sector in Bulgaria.1 The Plan sets out detailed activities and defines responsible institutions and timelines for each activity area.

The CPPP organised training on the use of the e-procurement system for economic operators in 2015. Representatives of the operators, including SMEs, attended the training, which specifically dealt with electronic submission of bids. The e-procurement platform, SEVOP, is fully operational as of 2015. All CPB procurement procedures for framework agreements as well as mini-competitions for award of specific contracts are announced through SEVOP, and bids are received and evaluated through the platform as of 2016.

38.4. Monitoring performance

Public Procurement Agency maintains a statistical database containing information on the public procurement market and publishes results annually.2 Certain information – such as number of public procurement procedures, small notices and visits to the public procurement portal – are published on a monthly basis. However, SME-specific data – such as their participation in the public procurement market – are not aggregated and published.