Even before the new session of Parliament has started MPs were quick to settle the matter with their many travels at home and abroad. In the last days before the end of the vacation, the National Assembly announced a public tender for the selection of a tour operator or travel agency to take care of air tickets and hotel accommodation of the MPs during their official trips next year. Estimated amount is about 850 thousand levs, which means 70 thousand levs per month. The money, however, may increase depending on the needs and the goals of the voyages of MPs. These costs are virtually unaccountable, as it is almost impossible to track who does what and how far one has travelled. The current bid also lacks such information. Moreover, often the list of people who fly on government expense is not strictly limited, and to top it all, the price of tickets is standard or even higher, although the competition procedure is held for large volume of travevl bookings. In recent years, the operations of government were settled primarily by Argus travel, Alma Tour BG , Aerotour MM, Hornit, Bulgarian VIP Travel, Astral Holidays, USIT Colours Bulgaria, Elite Travel International and Atlas Travel. Who exactly will be this time the choice of the National Assembly, however, will be known as early as mid-November, as the documents for participation in the contest may be submitted until October 14. The contenders are expected to demonstrate a record-high turnover of 1 million levs for the last three years, formed from a similar activity to the subject matter of the contract. The companies must provide piles of certificates and embedded work systems. But in the end the auction will select the company that submits economically the most advantageous tender. In this case, the price will have a weight of 80 per cent and service charge – only 20 per cent.
The need for a new provider of airline tickets emerged since at the end of July, the Secretary General of Parliament Ivan Slavchov terminated early the two-year contract with Bulgarian VIP Travel due to unfulfilled orders. The agreement had been signed on 8 October 2012 and was for an amount of 1.44 million levs. Later it became known that on the shares of the majority shareholder of Bulgarian VIP Travel – Vladi Alexiev, the court had imposed a distraint for obligations of 191,619 levs to another company endash the gambling firm Eurobank OMV Holding (owned by Daniel Lechev). For this reason, a number of agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Institute of Justice, the Bulgarian Investment Agency and the National Statistical Institute, ended their contracts with the tour operator.
The BANKER
