Bulgarian Interior Minister Roumen Petkov announced on March 25 that six companies were competing to be the producer of Bulgaria's new biometric passport. The first new passports are expected to be issued before the end of 2008.

After an initial selection procedure lasting several months, a committee from the Interior Ministry invited 12 companies to participate in the public procurement, six of which filed their offers, Petkov said. The six companies competing for the tender are Siemens Bulgaria, Hungarian Alami Nyomda Nyrt, German Bundesdruckerei Gmbh, French companies Sagem Defence Secutrite and Gemaldo and Greece's Printec.

A new committee made up of representatives of the Interior Ministry, State Agency for National Security (SANS) and the State Administration Ministry was expected to select the producer by early May. Contracts were expected to be signed before the end of May, Petkov said.

Bulgaria's new passports will be centrally issued from a purpose-built facility. Applications for passports will continue to be handled at regional police offices, Petkov said.

The new passport will include a chip with biometric data, although what data would be included was not announced. A spokesperson from the Interior Ministry told The Sofia Echo that the chip would include the data that is on the personal information page in current passports. This would include a photo and the passport owner’s names, date and place of birth and EGN (Bulgarian social security number). The spokesperson said it was unclear if fingerprints or other biometric data would be included on the chip, saying that this would probably be announced after the production details had been finalised and the production contract had been signed.

Under proposed European Union plans, passports issued by EU member states will contain a photograph and fingerprints on the chip. Currently the UK issues biometric passports without fingerprints. German passports issued after November 1 2007 contain two fingerprints, one from each hand, in addition to a digital photograph.

In early March, Bulgarian daily Standart said the Interior Ministry had plans to include biometric data on Bulgarian ID cards, including the owner’s family tree,  social security status and other personal data. The spokesperson at the interior ministry refused to comment on this issue as the new ID card was “only a plan,” they told The Sofia Echo.