Bulgaria’s Defence Minister suspends procedure for overhaul of Air Force An-30 because of errors
Bulgaria’s Defence Minister Krassimir Karakachanov has suspended the procedure for a five million leva contract to overhaul the Air Force’s Antonov An-30 aircraft because of errors including a wrong internet address and a lack of specification of which currency is involved.
This is the latest episode in which a Bulgarian Defence Ministry procurement has had to be suspended because of errors in documentation.
The tender regarding the overhaul of the An-30, which is used for aerial photography, has served in Open Skies missions and been used for emergency transports, gave an internet address which did not link to the tender documentation.
The documentation also did not specify whether the currency involved was leva or euro. The amount that had been set aside for the overhaul is five million leva, excluding value-added tax.
Bulgarian media quoted Karakachanov as saying that the violations could not be eliminated without changing the terms of the procedure.
In 2018, the acquisition of four training aircraft for the Bulgarian Air Force was suspended because of allegations that the tender was deliberately biased in favour of a particular potential supplier.
The Defence Ministry also suspended a tender for the repair of Mi-17 and Mi-24 helicopters because the documentation failed to specify how many helicopters were to be repaired. A sum of 31 million leva had been set aside for the project.
(Photo, of a Bulgarian Air Force An-30: Dtom via Wikimedia Commons)
