A new Public Procurement Act is expected to reach Parliament in mid-July, according to Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev.

He made clear during a Wednesday hearing at the parliamentary EU funds committee that a total of 670 statements of opinion and proposals for revision had been submitted in connection with the bill, adding that it would take some time to apply 30% of them, which had been considered appropriate.

Donchev, as cited by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency, noted that the fact that universities offered next to no courses focusing on public procurement was problematic because it resulted in a lack of administrative and expert capacity on the part of those applying the law.

He called on MPs to work to solve the problem as young specialists needed additional training.

Donchev also informed that the EU Funds bill had been completed.

To illustrate the importance of the new piece of legislation, he stressed that some BGN 30 B would be governed by it over the next 5-8 years.

He made clear that the bill would be reviewed by the government in 2-3 weeks.

Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister announced that the total of funds paid under operational programs stood at EUR 6.6 B by May 31, 2015, or a rate of implementation of 82%.

He said that the rate of implementation amounted to 80% and the total sum reached EUR 9 B with the agricultural funds.

Donchev stated that the average rate of implementation of the certification targets under operational programs stood at 98.28% by end-May.

He emphasized that the funds that Bulgaria would have the chance to absorb EU funds under the 2007-2013 programming period by end-2015 as the government had not managed to negotiate an extension of the deadline.

Donchev suggested that an absorption rate above 92% would be considered a success.

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