Government procurement in Europe is governed by both international obligations under the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) and EU-wide legislation under the EU Public Procurement Directives. U.S.-based companies can bid on public tenders covered by the GPA, while European subsidiaries of U.S. companies may bid on all public procurement contracts covered by the EU Directives in the European Union.
Many governments finance public works projects through borrowing from the Multilateral Development Banks.
U.S. companies bidding on foreign government tenders may also qualify for U.S. Government Commercial Advocacy. Within the U.S. Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration, the Advocacy Center coordinates U.S. Government interagency advocacy efforts on behalf of U.S. exporters in competition with foreign firms in foreign government projects or procurement opportunities. The Advocacy Center works closely with U.S. Commercial Service offices worldwide and inter-agency partners to ensure that exporters of U.S. products and services have the best possible chance of winning government contracts. Advocacy assistance can take many forms but often involves the U.S. Embassy or other U.S. Government agency officials expressing support for the U.S. exporters directly to the foreign government. Consult the Advocacy Center’s program web page on for additional information: https://www.trade.gov/advocacy
Under Bulgaria’s procurement law, a government procurement agency, Public Procurement Agency, (https://www2.aop.bg/en/home/), which reports to the Minister of Finance, was established to ensure and monitor the implementation of the state’s public procurement policy.
Bulgarian law uses the following public procurement procedures:
- open public tender
- restricted tender
- competitive dialogue
- competitive procedure with negotiation and open publication
- negotiated procedure without prior publication, and
- design contest
Procurement opportunities exist in numerous infrastructure sectors such as airports, energy, roads, and railroads. All international and domestic companies are eligible to participate in public procurement tenders. The Commission on Protection of Competition (CPC) https://www.cpc.bg/en/homepage is the authority that enforces both the Law on Public Procurement and the Law on Protection of Competition. A law on ‘public – private partnerships,’ adopted in 2012, states that a public partner in a public – private partnerships can be:
- a minister or the head of department;
- the mayor of a municipality; or
- a state and/or municipal public organization.
AmCham in Bulgaria has an active Public Procurement Working Group which can also be consulted for additional information (www.amcham.bg).