Apis Bulgaria Ltd filed a complaint with the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) on December 17, requesting a change in the centralised tender for the delivery of software for state institutions.

When State Administration Ministry announced the tender in November 2007, Apis approached the Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) about a series of procedural irregularities, Bulgarian news agency BTA said.

In early December, CPC rejected the complaints of Apis, a decision which Apis now appeals with the SAC.

Apis announced it would appeal until European institutions in Brussels, if necessary.

According to Apis' complaint, State Administration Ministry violated the Law on Public Procurement by "hijacking competence". State Administration Ministry did not have the competence to handle the tenders for other ministries and local authorities, except when explicitly authorised by the Council of Ministers. In this case, such an authorisation was missing.

Requirements in the tender were said to have been manipulated in favour of the current supplier, and the tender had not been published in the State Gazette either, as was required with tenders worth more than 450 000 leva.

According to Apis, a centralised tender for reference software was not necessary at all, as its use did not require compatibility between users.

"I would like to believe that this time we will receive a fair decision by the SAC, and what's more, thanks to our EU membership, we have an additional door to knock on," Apis manager Vasil Hristovich said.

Hristovich expressed his surprise as the decision of the CPC, which had refused to examine the two arguments from Apis against the tender. CPC motivated its decision with the claim that it was not competent examine the arguments.

"In my view," Hristovic said, "after the Council of Ministers had legally assigned the control over public procurements to the commission, it should have ruled on the complaints and not transfer the hot potato."

"Bulgarian law for public procurement implements the requirements of directive 2004/18 of the European parliament and European Council, and in accordance with the directive, states that a tender like this could only be held by a central organ