Over the past nine years, winter maintenance of municipal roads and streets in Sevlievo has tripled in cost. At the same time, less and less snow falls, yet the price for clearing a kilometer decreases, according to an investigation by “Za Istinata.” So where does the additional half a million leva per year for snow removal in the municipality go? It turns out—into the same companies and according to a well-crafted scheme.
Despite the warmer and almost snowless winters in Sevlievo, the amount allocated for snow removal has increased by 1.5 million leva from 2016 to now, reaching nearly 2.5 million leva for the same kilometers. The municipal road network has a total length of 288 km, the streets in 28 villages total 325 km, and the streets in Sevlievo are 50 km long, with an additional 10 km in settlement formations.
One detail stands out:
The price that the company winning public procurement contracts for snow removal has offered per kilometer of road has decreased with each new public procurement since 2016. This is difficult to explain, as it is natural for prices for clearing a kilometer of road to increase with each new three-year period. Rising fuel prices, potential increases in wages for the companies hired for snow removal, and certainly more expensive maintenance of machinery are expected to factor into the calculations.
However, the exact opposite is happening in Sevlievo—
the price for clearing a kilometer is falling, while the value of the public procurement is rising.
Contracts for winter maintenance in Sevlievo are signed for three years. In the autumn of 2022, the Municipality of Sevlievo will once again sign a contract with the consortium “Winter Cleaning Sevlievo.” This consortium is made up of “Eko Tradex Group” from Haskovo and “Infrastructure” from Sevlievo, with equal shares (50:50).
The first contract between this company and the Municipality was for snow removal from 2016 to 2019, with a value of 1.2 million leva including VAT.
In 2019, a new contract was signed for the period until 2022, valued at 1.65 million leva including VAT. This autumn, the Municipality of Sevlievo again announced a procedure for selecting a contractor to maintain the roads during winter, with a duration until 2025, which was once again won by “Winter Cleaning Sevlievo.” This contract is valued at 2.25 million leva.
As strange as it may seem, the cost per kilometer of road cleaning was highest between 2016 and 2019—just over 35 leva including VAT (29.43 leva excluding VAT). During the next three-year period, a price 15 leva lower per kilometer was agreed upon, bringing the price to just over 20 leva. There was only a slight increase in price for the period 2022-2025—to 24.60 leva (all amounts include VAT). (Detailed information on prices by year is provided in a table at the end of the text.)
in the cost of snow removal per kilometer, against the backdrop of rising values of public procurement, lacks a logical explanation.
A careful examination of the figures from the protocols of the conducted public procurements sheds unclear light on what might have happened. Although it should theoretically be impossible, it is not excluded that information regarding the price proposed by a competing participant may have leaked. This, of course, is merely a speculation, as the envelopes containing the technical and financial proposals are submitted sealed, and participants in the procedure sign the envelope of their competitor, certifying that they have no objections to the duly submitted offers and their storage until they are opened.
In this case, however, the suspicion that information about the proposed price from a competing participant may have leaked is grounded.
Here are the facts:
In the procedure announced by the Municipality of Sevlievo for selecting a contractor for winter cleaning for the period 2016-2019, two companies participated—DZZD “Patstroy Gabrovo – Dimas,” registered in Gabrovo, and DZZD “Winter Cleaning Sevlievo,” headquartered in Sevlievo. This company was registered in the same year the public procurement was announced.
The Gabrovo company submitted its offer at 1 PM—one hour later, the company registered in Sevlievo submitted its offer as well.
When the price offers were opened, “Patstroy Gabrovo – Dimas” proposed a price that was slightly over 2 leva higher for snow removal per kilometer and almost 14 leva more per kilometer for treating the roads against icing and snow removal. Due to the competitive price from “Winter Cleaning Sevlievo,” it was ranked first, and the Municipality of Sevlievo signed a contract with it for a value of 1 million leva excluding VAT. After the three-year term of this contract expired, the actual amounts paid under it were only five leva below the contract value, meaning the entire agreed sum was utilized.
One hour later, “Winter Cleaning Sevlievo” submitted its offer. Until then, the company had been clearing one kilometer for nearly 30 leva excluding VAT, but this time it proposed an astonishingly lower price of 17 leva excluding VAT and just over 82 leva for treatment against icing, which during the previous three-year period was performed at 90 leva excluding VAT. The prices that determined the financial evaluation of the offer were not only surprisingly much lower, but they were slightly below those offered by the competing participant—the “Sevlievo 2019-2022” consortium.
Since both companies received the maximum score for quality, the price of their services became decisive for the final ranking. As the evaluation criteria consider the ratio between quality and price, it was entirely logical that “Winter Cleaning Sevlievo” received maximum points for price and was ranked first. Consequently, the Municipality of Sevlievo signed its second three-year contract with the same company, which is now valued at 1.6 million leva including VAT (approximately 1.4 million leva excluding VAT).
Under this contract, 1 million leva excluding VAT has actually been paid out.
How is it that if the selected company cleans at a lower price, more is ultimately paid?
This happens due to higher rates for a machine shift. For the period 2016-2019, the bids from the two participants in the public procurement were not recorded (they are missing from the publicly accessible protocol, editor’s note) by the procurement commission. However, there are interesting details in the subsequently conducted procedure. It turns out that “Winter Cleaning Sevlievo,” which ranked first and thereby won the public procurement for winter maintenance, actually proposed higher prices than its sole competitor, the “Sevlievo 2019-2022” consortium.
Why does “Winter Cleaning Sevlievo” receive a higher score for its price offer despite providing higher prices? Because the price offer is determined by the proposed price for snow removal per kilometer. If a participant, whoever they may be, offers a lower price than their competitor on this metric, they win the public procurement, regardless of the fact that all other prices they submit are higher than those of the other participant. This scheme is entirely legal, and the choice of the winning participant cannot be contested, even though taxpayers are paying more for it.
Thus, when the snow falls, money also pours into the roads of the Sevlievo municipality.
According the information provided under the Access to Public Information Act over the years, it is evident that for the winter maintenance in the 2019-2020 season, the Municipality of Sevlievo paid 292,000 leva, and for the 2020-2021 season, nearly 119,000 leva were disbursed. The remainder up to 1 million leva, which was paid after the final settlement of the contract, amounts to 400,000 leva. This appears to be the amount paid for winter maintenance for the 2021-2022 season. However, during the winters of these two years, there was the least amount of snow in the Sevlievo area.
According to data available to “Za Istinata,” in December 2021, snow fell three times, with the most on December 30, but its thickness was only 8 cm.
In 2022, there were three snowfalls—one each in January, February, and March, with the thickest snow measuring 14 cm accumulated on January 24. The precipitation in March was negligible, with only a 2 cm snow cover.
Despite the scarce snow during the winter of 2021-2022, around 300,000 leva more were paid for its clearing compared to the winter of 2020-2021 when, according to the Municipality of Sevlievo, snow fell three times—on January 6 and 7, then between February 5 and 8, and on March 24. The situation was most serious during the February snowfall, when, in some areas, the snow accumulated to about a meter, and over 150 reports were submitted to the coordination center, with 44% concerning impassable roads. The problem was exacerbated by numerous malfunctioning snow removal equipment, as reported by the Municipality the following year. The situation was indeed serious, and all available equipment from the snow removal companies was mobilized, while the year concluded with 118,000 leva paid for the entire season.
How much snow will fall during the upcoming winter?
and in the years up to 2025, no one knows. However, the price per kilometer for snow removal is once again lower than that agreed upon in 2016 because it still carries the greatest weight in the selection of the contractor.
The latest public procurement took place in 2022 when inflation was approaching 20%, prices were rising steeply, and a new minimum wage was set. However, no one should assume that snow removal in Sevlievo will become cheaper. The prices that fill the accounts of the snow removal companies are not decisive in their selection. That’s why they offer the “convenient” price that will allow them to once again rank first after the bidding process.
