Bulgarian Defence Minister Halts Public Tenders Worth Over BGN 50 M

Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev halted two public tenders for the delivery of armoured machines for use by the land forces and the military police worth more than BGN 50 M.

The information was confirmed by sources within the defence ministry, private bTV station reported on Monday.

The defence ministry was planning to purchase six armoured Sand Cat vehicles for use by military police worth more than BGN 16 M.

Such vehicles were used by military police in Afghanistan and for entering zones prone to explosions.

The commission in the ministry has not yet given its opinion on the tender, but the procedure arose suspicions among members of the parliamentary defence committee.

A week ago, Nenchev defended the tender, saying that the defence ministry needs the vehicles in line with the army's deployment to guard the border and the recent terrorist attacks in some European capitals.

The defence ministry is also halting the BGN 41 M tender for the delivery of thirteen Guardian armoured vehicles for use by the land forces.

It turns out that the documentation for participation in the tender did not fulfill the requirements.

Members of Nenchev's cabinet assured that the minister is closely monitoring each public procurement procedure.

This is the latest set of public tenders halted by the Bulgarian government in the past weeks on grounds that the procedures are lacking transparency.

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