On March 29, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria launched an open procedure under the Law on Public Procurement for Supply of equipment for copying and printing of ballot protocols (reports of the Precinct Election Commission under the amended Election Code) for purposes of Precinct Election Committees. The procedure is putting an end to the political fuss about how much money will be needed for 6000 copiers, because it is now clear that they will be hired.
Another requirement of the Premier Raikov is in the period 11 to 13 May 2013 to provide support at the point of the client (in the electoral committees) with a response time of two hours to repair any damages or failures. The minimum requirement is that the devices be black and white, but they also may be colour ones. The format of the copy paper is the standard – the A4 and the minimum number of copies printed provided with the device has been set to 150. As part of the contract the contractor must provide additional consumables for the delivered equipment.
The deadline for receipt of the bids to participate expired on 5 April at 12:00.
Their number, however, is a secret for now.
The caretaker Prime Minister is to provide 400 000 copiers for the parliamentary vote to allow each member of the regional electoral committees to get a copy of the protocols with a wet stamp and signature. This is something on which the representatives of the Movement for Rights an Freedoms are particularly insistent. According to them the dealing with the problem is the test whether the government of Marin Raykov intends to exercise its functions to hold fair elections. The leader of the Order, Law, Justice, Yane Yanev, wanted the copiers to be set into the premises at least ten days before the elections.
Chair of the Central Electoral Committee, Krasimira Medarova, has signed a decision which allows a possible use of a single machine for copying records into two or more sections, but this can take place only in the very premises of these sections, located in one building. She also wants the sectoral protocols to be passed to the regional committes within 24 hours after the closing of the polls.
The BANKER
