The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) has requested the banning of offshore firms from taking part in public procurement. CITUB is concerned that such a measure is absent from the current bill amending and supplementing the Public Procurement Act (PPA).

The trade union also insists that a ban on companies which fail to pay social security contributions is insufficient and the amended PPA should also prevent businesses which pay salaries irregularly from participating in public procurement tendering procedures, investor.bg reports.

"It is unacceptable for companies which fail to pay salaries or observe legally and contractually stipulated labor standards to win public procurement contracts. This obligation should apply equally to the participants in the procedures and to the subcontractors," an official statement of CITUB says.

The union also says that the practice of winning public procurement through dumping prices and shorter implementation deadlines, which are subsequently changed through annexes to the contract so as to ensure substantial benefits for the contractor, should be eliminated (except in strictly defined circumstances).

CITUB insists that local firms, especially those functioning in a sector directly related to the subject of the respective public procurement deal, should be given priority treatment over companies which are merely capable of implementing it.

The trade union supports most of the other measures envisioned in the set of proposed amendments to the PPA, such as reducing paper flow, facilitating access of small and medium-sized enterprises, reducing the number of deals awarded without a tender, banning related firms from participating in the procedures, etc.

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