“With this decision, the Supreme Administrative Court proved that our consistent position was legally and economically sound. We refused to sign long-term contracts under monopoly conditions and offers with a price that exceeded market logic several times. We did not bow to the pressure and proved that the Sofia Municipality will set the rules in the interest of the citizens, and will not accept blackmail“.
This was stated by the Mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev, after today the Sofia Municipality finally won the legal dispute for the termination of the public procurement for garbage collection and cleaning in Zone 1 (the districts of “Sredets“, “Lozenets“ and “Studentski“).
The final court decision for Zone 1 paves the way for the Sofia Municipality to announce a new public procurement for the districts of “Sredets“, “Lozenets“ and “Studentski“. The new competition will include even higher quality requirements, mandatory modern equipment, more mechanized cleaning and increased sanctions for non-compliance.
The Sofia Municipality emphasizes that garbage collection and cleaning in Zone 1 and Zone 7 are currently being carried out regularly, on schedule and without risk to cleanliness.
With Decision No. 10063 of 14.10.2026, the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) confirmed that the actions of the municipal administration are completely legal and in protection of the public interest and the money of Sofia residents. The final ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court is also expected in the case of Zone 7 (the districts of „Vazrazhdane“, „Oborishte“ and „Triaditsa” - center).
The decision of the Supreme Administrative Court is a logical continuation of the acts of the Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) from August this year (No. 757 and No. 758), which also confirmed the termination of the procedures for Zone 1 and Zone 7. In its reasons, the CPC explicitly stated that the Municipality correctly exercised its right to operational autonomy in order to guarantee real competition and effective spending of public resources.
We recall that during the Mega Procurement for the Cleanliness of Sofia, after the elimination of participants with non-transparent bids, one candidate remained in Zone 1 and Zone 7, whose price offers turned out to be excessively high. Instead of binding the capital with unprofitable 5-year contracts, the Sofia Municipality terminated the procedure and temporarily provided the service through annexes at a price of 209 BGN/ton - an amount that is almost two times lower than the 340-370 BGN/ton requested by the candidates.