The costs of ministers for airfare and hotel accommodation for business trips at home and abroad are rapidly increasing. Starting from 22 thousand levs per month in 2011 and coming to 37.5 thousand levs per month in 2012 and reaching for this year a level of 80 thousand levs. This is clear from the recently announced procurement of 1.92 million lev by the interim government, which must be suffice for providing flights in the coming 24 months.
Definitely there will be a lot of flying, especially given that the order does not include government delegations and those led by the Prime Minister. So, the employees at the Council of Ministers would have to constantly wait at the airports to justify such costs. For comparison we can say that at the end of 2012 the National Assembly contracted with Bulgarian VIP Travel airline tickets for lawmakers and the administration over the next two years for 1.44 million levs. On October 1, the administration of President Rosen Plevneliev agreed for their annual flights a sum of 100 thousand levs with Argus Travel.
As the most visited destinations the Government has indicated in tender documentation Brussels, Vienna, Moscow, New York, Washington, London, Paris, Lisbon, Madrid, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Budapest, Krakow, Bucharest, Prague, Bratislava, Istanbul, Tokyo, Beijing and some others. It is noted, however, that the list is illustrative and there is no limitation is contracting to purchase tickets for other areas.
Travel agents who want to serve the Council of Ministers need to demonstrate at least 4 million lev turnover for the last three years and submit their bids by 20 May With most weight in determining the winner will be the proposed discount rate of service charge for plane reservations. But the public is unlikely to be surprised when choosing a company. In recent years, a regular provider of airline tickets for the government was Elite Travel International and nobody would be surprised if it is again preferred by the Government. The last contract with the company and Margarita and Anelia Bachiyskis was from the end of February 2012 and was for about 600 thousand levs. Before that, in August 2011 a contract was concluded for 132 thousand levs, and on December 14, 2009, another one was signed for 960 thousand levs. Elite Travel International has won more than 40 competitions in other government departments in the past five years.
The BANKER
