The European Defence Agency announced today that Bulgaria has joined the inter-governmental regime for defence procurement taking the number of subscribers to 25 out of the EDA’s 26 Member States.
The voluntary regime is designed to increase transparency and competition, offer armed forces and taxpayers better value for money, broaden business opportunities for defence-related companies of all sizes and help to strengthen the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base.
Since the regime came into force in mid-2006, governments have advertised more than 260 contract opportunities on the European Bulletin Board online portal (www.eda.europa.eu/ebb), which is operated by the Agency. Last year, 60 of the published opportunities were also awarded with a value of more than 600 million euro and more than 25% of them being cross-border awarded.
Since March 2007, the EBB has also displayed industry-to-industry sub-contracting opportunities for defence equipment under the Code of Best Practice in the Supply Chain, which extends the benefits of a more transparent and competitive market to smaller companies and suppliers across Europe. To date, some 150 such opportunities have been advertised on the EBB with a value of approximately 150 M euro.
“We are very pleased that Bulgaria has decided to join the regime. New Member States and their defence industries have an important role to play,” said EDA Chief Executive Alexander Weis. “The regime is designed to deliver better value for customers in all countries and to provide new opportunities for industries from all parts of the EU and for companies large and small.”