Teams of the Commission for the Protection of Competition are conducting on-site inspections in offices of companies investigating a cartel in public procurement for food supplies to hospitals. The on-site inspections are carried out with the assistance of officers from the “Specialized Police Forces“ department of the Ministry of Interior after receiving a court permit from the Sofia District Administrative Court.
The on-site inspections are within the framework of the CPC proceedings to establish a possible violation under Art. 15 of the Law on Protection of Competition, expressed in a prohibited agreement for the purpose of manipulating public procurement procedures with the subject matter of “Preparation and delivery of ready-made food for various diets for hospital nutrition“.
The proceedings were initiated after a signal received by the antimonopoly authority on October 2, 2025 from the MP Vasil Pandov. The signal expresses doubts about the manipulation of public procurement procedures for food for medical institutions by the companies “Master-Pick“ EAD, “Balkan Meal“ EOOD and “Party Food“ AD.
Given the serious public harm and the severe social consequences that such violations could lead to, such as poor quality of food and violation of patients' rights, immediately after receiving the signal, the Commission began a preliminary investigation to clarify the factual situation. All orders for the supply of hospital food, carried out for the territory of the city of Sofia for the period 2022-2025, in which the companies participate as competitors, were examined.
The preliminary study found sufficient data that point to one of the forms of prohibited agreement in the form of tender manipulation, namely “market allocation“ – winning public procurement contracts by that competitor to whom the specific contracting authority was “allocated”. Another form of coordination between the companies that is observed is the so-called “cover bids“, which are used to create the appearance of competition and to prevent the procedure from being terminated if only one bid is submitted.
The direct and indirect evidence collected during the on-site inspections will be added to that established so far in the proceedings to establish a cartel for manipulating public procurement for the supply of hospital food.
When carrying out unannounced on-site inspections, the officers of the national competition authority have the authority to access, review and seize any documents and records related to the activities of the companies, regardless of the medium on which they are stored. During the inspections, the officers also use specialized equipment (forensic laboratory) for the recovery, authentication and analysis of digital information, representing an exact copy (forensic image) of the specific carrier of this information.
After the completion of the procedural actions on the file, the CPC will rule within the framework of its statutory competence.