site.btaAudit Office Fines Top BGN 216,000 for Procurement and Election Code Violations

The Bulgarian National Audit Office (BNAO) imposed more than BGN 216,000 in fines for breaches of the Public Procurement Act and Election Code in the first seven months of the year, BNAO said Wednesday. Mayors, heads of government agencies and one parliamentary coalition are among those penalized.

BNAO reported issuing 78 statements for administrative offences under the Public Procurement Act, resulting in 33 penalty orders, 21 warnings, 5 resolutions to terminate proceedings, and 1 settlement agreement. Fines for procurement breaches amounted to BGN 177,290. Several officials received multiple penalty orders, including mayors and deputy mayors from five municipalities, the head of a regulatory authority, the manager of a secondary budget administrator, and the head of a territorial unit of a public institution. Some penalties are being appealed or are pending court decisions, and individual names have not been disclosed.

Violations frequently involved setting public procurement conditions that gave unjustified advantage or restricted competition, using assessment methods that prevented objective comparison of bids, failing to publish required information in the Procurement Register on time, and neglecting to apply the Public Procurement Act when required, often due to poor planning.

BNAO also drew up eight statements for Election Code violations involving representatives of electoral participants. These mainly concerned missing information about donors, declarations of funding sources, and absent details about agencies working with parties and coalitions. In total, the President of BNAO issued 14 final acts under the Election Code, including 13 penalty orders valued at BGN 39,000, mainly targeting party and coalition representatives, one of which was a parliamentary coalition. Additionally, one violation was recorded under the Political Parties Act for a party’s failure to file a financial report and donation declaration.