Discusses the legal requirements for selling to the host government, including whether the government has agreed to abide by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement or is a party to a government procurement chapter in a U.S. FTA. Specifies areas where there are opportunities.
Last Published: 9/13/2019
Many governments finance public works projects through borrowing from the Multilateral Development Banks. Please refer to Project Financing Section in Trade & Project Financing for more information.

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.
 
Under Bulgaria’s procurement law, a government procurement agency, which reports to the Minister of Economy, 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 procedure 
  • restricted tender procedure
  • 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) 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
The AmCham in Bulgaria has an active Procurement Committee which can also be consulted (www.amcham.bg).
For information on the EU-financed public tenders see: http://export.gov/europeanunion/marketresearch/eufundingandgovernmentprocurementsectors/index.asp
 

Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.