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The total value of published public procurements through the Centralized Automated Information System "Electronic Public Procurements" (CAIS EPP) exceeded BGN 132 billion over the past 5 years. This is according to the data from the platform, which was built by Information Services in consortium with Sirma Solutions JSC, Negometrix Bulgaria Ltd., Scale Focus JSC and Sabev & Partners Law Firm. The system went into operation at the beginning of 2020 and completely eliminated the paper exchange of documentation. The total number of published electronic public procurements exceeded 102,000, with over 25,000 published just last year, which is a significant increase compared to previous years. The most published public procurements are for supplies – nearly 50,000, followed by procurements for services and construction.
"The built platform completely eliminates the possibility of manipulating offers, both by the contracting authorities and the participants, and ensures full transparency and traceability of the public procurement process," stated Snezhanka Smilkova, Deputy Director of "Software Integration" at Information Services. According to her, the bidders themselves encrypt their offers with an asymmetric cryptographic key and only they can provide the decryption key, which guarantees the security of the data and submitted offers. The system ensures complete protection against substitution of bids and parts of bids.
The data shows that nearly 30% of the over 460,000 offers submitted during the period were sent out of working hours. This is a huge relief for bidders who do not have to comply with the working hours of the administration. The system operates 24/7, and candidates can submit offers from anywhere in the world, at any time. A large share of the offers is registered after midnight between 00.00-6.00, making it as easy as possible for all parties in the process. The total number of contracts concluded through successfully conducted public procurements exceeded 133,000.
Over 18,300 companies and 3,112 individuals are registered in the system, and the number of contracting authorities using CAIS EPP is 5,384. The total number of registered employees in administrations and various organizations working with the system exceeds 82,200.
CAIS EPP has a total of 32 functional modules that ensure publicity, transparency and better monitoring of the public procurement market in the country. The platform enables better tracking of procurement processes, reduction of administrative burden, simplified and shortened procedures and significant savings for all participants.