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Information Services strongly and categorically objects to the manipulative and non-true statements of the journalist Yoan Zapryanov published in the material “Тhe Minister, who sabotaged his ministry (and elections along it) since 15.02.2024”. Apparently, this is yet another attempt by the journalist in question to undermine the company’s prestige with unverified facts and subjective conclusions aimed at deliberately misleading the audience of Capital, as happened in the article “Why the state IT systems become inactive" as of 26.10.2021”.
To honour the truth, we must declare:
The author's claims that "At the end of September Todor Sabchev was dismissed by mutual consent as Director of Information Technology at the SJC and transferred to Information Services are not true. An employee with such a name has never been employed in Information Services.
We also strongly disagree with the author's attempts to suggest that the public procurement contract awarded in 2021 for the design of 'Information System for Centralised Design and Maintenance of Registers' (ISCIPR) is identical to the project 'Centralised design, maintenance and digitisation of registers kept by administrative bodies in accordance with the requirements of Art. 52a of the eGovernment Act’, a project awarded to Information Services at the end of December 2023 with a request under Framework Contract No Д-5/25.07.2022, signed with the Ministry of eGovernment.
While the scope of the previous project included only the design of a platform for centralized design and maintenance of registers, the project implemented by Information Services includes the design of a software solution for centralized design and maintenance of registers kept by administrative bodies; digitization of up to 305 registers within only 12 months and technical assistance in digitization and maintenance of registers. A warranty maintenance for the software solution and the digitised registers is also included for a period of 48 months. The project awarded to Information Services is complex and the results of its implementation are reflected in the actual implementation of the requirements of Article 52a of the EGA.
We strongly object to the author's suggestion that there is a lack of capacity in Information Services. Claims that "When IS does not have the capacity to do a job, it can outsource it through procurement to other companies, and according to the company, as of early 2022, orders worth BGN 120 million had been diverted in this way within two years" are highly manipulative and do not correspond to the truth.
The data reported on the volume of public procurement is from an interview of the CEO Ivaylo Filipov with the same journalist on 11.02.2022 (Ivaylo Filipov: The state lacks capacity and knowledge on how to facilitate citizens and business), where it is clearly and precisely explained that this is a matter of public contracts for the supply of hardware, won by supplier companies of the relevant global equipment manufacturer, on the grounds of Article 7c of the Electronic Government Act (EGA), and not for subcontracting activities that are within the core competences of the company.
Again, to be fair, we would only point to the fact that these supplies have saved the state nearly BGN 70 million, compared to values of identical equipment purchased under other procedures and from other contractors, outside of Information Services. This is evident from publicly available information on the company's website - https://www.is-bg.net/bg/benefits/2023.
These results are also one of the reasons that only a month ago the company was accepted as a full member of the European Association of Public IT Providers EURITAS. The prestigious association includes representatives of the most developed countries in Europe, including Germany, Italy, Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, etc. The purpose of the association is to create a trans-European network of public ICT service providers to exchange know-how and best practices in the field of e-government, to adapt standards and the potential to upgrade IT systems used in public administration.
Information Services has always been open for conversation on all topics of interest in "Capital" and has always provided the information that journalists needed.
In this regard, we find it puzzling that the author of the material, Yoan Zapryanov, did not contact Information Services to check the facts during when preparing the material.
In conclusion, we hope that the subjective opinion of the author of the article is dictated by misunderstanding and ignorance, and does not aim to deliberately mislead Capital's audience.