Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry to Buy 405 SUVs and 285 Motorbikes Using Driver Fines

The Ministry of Interior in Bulgaria has announced plans to purchase 405 4x4 SUVs and 285 motorcycles to equip its Sofia and regional directorates, according to public procurement documents released this week. The decision follows the cancellation of 575 passenger car acquisitions, initially valued at 126,514,133 leva (around €64.7 million) excluding VAT, for which over 60 million leva (roughly €30.7 million) had been allocated.

Funding for the vehicles comes from the road safety fund, which is financed by fines imposed on drivers. The 4x4 SUVs will be supplied by “Bohemia Ekipauto,” a Skoda importer, at 95,940 leva (€49,000) per unit including VAT. Meanwhile, the motorcycles will be provided by “Auto Bavaria,” a BMW importer, at a price of 49,488 leva (€25,300) per unit, the only bid submitted for this segment.

The procurement of passenger cars had initially been led by the “Das Avto 2025” consortium, which offered Volkswagen vehicles and received particularly high marks from the evaluation committee. However, Deputy Minister Lyubomir Yosifov issued a resolution terminating this procurement item, citing that the second- and third-ranked bids were significantly cheaper, by 7,498,000 leva (€3.84 million) and 6,923,000 leva (€3.54 million) including VAT, respectively.