Bulgarian administration easily spendя the collected tax money without paying particular attention to economic logic. An example of this is the last шехаеи of the National Security State Agency to provide airfare and hotel accommodation in overseas trips of employees. As absurd as it may sound, it selected the most expensive of all the proposed offers. In this, of course, there is nothing illegal, but it certainly is not appropriate in terms of public money spent.
That contest was announced on July 10 this year and according to the documentation provides for the conclusion of a two-year contract with a tour operator in estimated budget of 264,000 levs. The interesting thing here is different – a crucial role in selecting the winner was plaid not by the cost but by the so called technical proposal. Such a practice can be observed has in the orders for construction contracts, for example, where it is essential to identify technologies and materials used. But this approach is highly illogical when purchasing airline tickets. These travel documents are identical worldwide, they are bought from the standardized reservation systems and their price is determined by the airlines. All this makes the role of the intermediary (in this case the tour operator) negligible. It would be almost incredible if the operator negotiates some striking discounts. The only thing the operator can offer or change is the fee or the commission which it collects for the service. But for one reason or another, for the responsible officials in the National Security State Agency those financial details were irrelevant. As understood, the most important thing they consider was which candidate will describe in more detail the technology of work, which will ultimately get more points. This leads to the already mentioned paradox – the state pays more for something that is available much cheaper. This logic can be explained with lack of understanding for the subject matter, or with a desire to pre-select the winner in the contest by vague and subjective evaluation criteria of the technical proposal.
Here are the facts. Documents for the contest were submitted by three companies – Travel Agency Mirage, United Travel Agency and Elite Travel International. The first company owned by Vyara Aleksandorva, Galina Lozeva and Georgi Koinakov offers a five-lev fee for issuing a ticket for Europe and transatlantic flights and 1 lev per hotel accommodation per person. The prices of the other two tour operators are far higher – respectively 40 levs or 50 levs for flights within the continent, 60 levs for more distant destinations and 20 levs for hotel booking. Because of the wide disparity in prices in a letter dated August 6 the Evaluation Committee requested additional justification of the pricing from Travel Agency Mirage, which was subsequently accepted. This is completely understandable since agencies receive discounts from hotels and airlines per accumulated number of reservations, so in some cases they can even afford to work without collecting commissions from clients. So that the symbolic price of one lev (author’s note – the law does not allow a lower rate), can still be profitable for the company. Given that it is not strange that the Mirage got the maximum 4 points for the price quote, while United Travel Agency and Elite Travel International got 0.393333 and 0.333333 points respectively.
The outcome, however, is seen when the points of the evaluation of the technical bids are added. There the maximum score (6 points) was received by Elite Travel. United Travel got 5.4. points and Mirage was awarded only 1.8 points and so the company offering the most advantageous tariffs remained on second place. The explanation for this, based on protocols that the Banker weekly saw, was that the participant failed to clearly and specifically describe the stages and activities of execution. Nor did it detail the technical and software resources. It lacked a definition of tasks and responsibilities of individual employees. How important these things are for the issuing airline tickets everyone can judge. But because of this, National Security State Agency will spend much more money for the overseas travel of its employees. One should not miss the fact that since February 2010 and in the period of 12 months after it, Travel Agency Mirage made the flight and hotel reservations of anti-mafia experts, so it’s no secret how it works, and such technical gaps should not create a problem for both sides. Furthermore, the reference in the Public Procurement Agency shows that the previous contract with the company was concluded with no violations and penalties and it was for a sum of 130,000 levs.
There is supposedly no money in the state but the institutions do not stop spending millions on overseas voyages. Airline tickets of ministers and their entourage every year costs a staggering 30 million levs. But the worst is that these costs are virtually unaccountable, as it is almost impossible to trace who has traveled and how far on what mission. Ministry of Defence will soon sign a contract to provide tickets for overseas flights of employees in the next four years. For this purpose they will allocate 3.72 million levs. The ministry of Labour and Social Policy will spend 720,000 levs for the same purpose, but the contract with the winner will be only for 24 months. Shaken by scandals the State Fund Agriculture has also decided to provide overseas trips for two years ahead, but they will cost only 160,000 levs. The Commission for Protection of Competition will pay for airfare 360,000 levs home and abroad over the next three years. The healthcare ministry also seeks a tour operator and has in store 300,000 levs for a one-year contract.
The BANKER
