Revenue from e-auctions on the online timber sale platform exceeded BGN 121m

The platform for e-auctions for timber sale, built by Information Services, reported over BGN 121 million revenue. Three of the six state forest enterprises, which sell timber cut on state forest plots, work with the platform. They are the Southwest Forestry State Enterprise (SFSE), the Northwest Forestry State Enterprise (NFSE) and the Northeast Forestry State Enterprise (NFSE).

Оnly for the last 6 months the total amount of realized revenue from e-auctions has exceeded BGN 40 million. The three state forest enterprises have reported almost BGN 20 million higher revenue from the price rise due to the usage of the platform.

Since the launch of the platform in 2016, almost 2,100 e-auctions have been held so far. The average number of bidding steps was 13, and the most contested auction recorded 417 bidding steps.

“The platform for electronic trade in timber scraps the possibility of subjective interference in the auctions and the vicious practice of the participants to negotiate the price in advance," the Information Services‘ CEO Ivaylo Filipov stated. According to him, full transparency of the whole process has been achieved by providing access to all registered timber-processing companies in the country to join the bidding.

Participants have the opportunity to participate in the e-auction from anywhere in Bulgaria and at any time. Only a Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) is required to participate. All documentation is entirely in electronic format, and the system provides a high degree of protection against replacement and/or loss of offers and documents.

By the integrated service for verification of time and content Time Stamp, the authenticity of the documents and the submitted offers by the participants in the platform is guaranteed. It protects both the auction commissions and the entities which opted to join the bidding.