site.btaDefence Ministry Faces Difficult Decision about New Armoured Vehicles Project for Land Forces - Parliamentary Defence Committee Chair

Sofia, October 5 (BTA) - "The Ministry of Defence has to weigh
very correctly, accurately and clearly the risks of the need to
suspend, postpone or approach Parliament to revise the projected
 spending for the project for purchase of new armoured vehicles
for the Land Forces," National Assembly Defence Committee
Chairman Konstantin Popov told journalists here on Monday.

He was asked to comment on off-the-record reports that the price
 offers of the companies bidding for the modernization project
exceed its financial ceiling.

The procedure was launched in June 2018, when the National
Assembly approved the planned purchase of 150 armoured vehicles,
 including 90 combat ones and 60 special-purpose and support
ones. The maximum price of the procurement was set at 1.24
billion leva before VAT, payable over 10 years.

The price offers of the two shortlisted bidders in the procedure
 for the supply of armoured combat vehicles - the General
Dynamics multinational company and Finland's Patria, were opened
 at the Defence Ministry in Sofia on October 2. No further
details were provided about the offers. The Ministry only said
that an inter-agency working group which has been working since
late 2019 will assess the two price offers, after which field
tests will be conducted to check whether the vehicles' technical
 and tactical parameters meet the requirements. If the bidders
pass the field tests, they will be asked to improve their
offers, and negotiations will follow. If both bidders remain in
the race by that point, their improved offers will be ranked.
The working group will then draw up a report notifying the
Defence Minister of the bidders' ranking and proposing a
selection of a contractor or potentially terminating the
procedure without a contractor being selected.

"This is a difficult decision, and I rely on the political
leadership to adopt the right decision solidly backed by
military expertise, and I hope that the modernization will
proceed the way we have planned it," Popov said.

In a speech at the opening of the academic year at the G.S.
Rakovski National Defence College, the Defence Committee
Chairman expressed his conviction that the three major
modernization projects for the Armed Forces should make progress
 harmoniously.
     
In the first project, contracts for the purchase of eight newly
built F-16 Block 70 jet fighters and support equipment and
weapons from Lockheed Martin of the US for the Bulgarian Air
Force for 1.2 billion dollars were ratified by the Bulgarian
National Assembly in July 2019. The first two jets are to be
delivered in mid-2023, and the last two in the first quarter of
2024.

In the second project, a contract for the purchase of two
multi-role patrol ships for the Bulgarian Navy is about to be
signed with Fr. Lurssen Werft GmbH & Co.KG (Germany) and is due
for completion by March 2021. Bulgaria is prepared to spend
close to 984 million leva after VAT on the patrol ships. LN/LG