The Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) has officially signed the contract, which leaves the management of the toll system in the hands of the Kapsch Traffic Solutions consortium until the end of 2030. Although the document was signed on December 19, 2024 and entered into force on December 24, 2024, the contract was only “осветен” in the Centralized Automated Information System (CAIS) a month later, on January 13, 2026.
To date RIA hasn’t officially announced it’s signed a new contract worth nearly €65.2 million (over BGN 127.5 million) excluding VAT even though the toll system and its maintenance are part of the list of strategic sites and activities of importance to national security.
Everything between the state and the Austrian technology giant is happening in the absence of competition and with a lack of information about key provisions in the contract that would clarify exactly how taxpayers’ millions will be spent.
We recall that the signing of the new, third consecutive contract with Kapsch came after the RIA opened a procedure for “negotiation without prior announcement” in November last year. The state’s argument was that it was technically dependent on the Austrian consortium that built the system in 2018 under a contract worth nearly €92 million (BGN 180 million).
In 2021 (at the end of the term of the Borisov 3 cabinet) the company also received a contract for “proactive monitoring” worth over €60.2 million excluding VAT (BGN 117.7 million) – a contract that the Court of Auditors later sharply criticized.
Now the new post-warranty maintenance by Kapsch is increasing in price by €5 million (over BGN 9.7 million). At first glance the amount doesn’t seem huge but in practice it’s unclear what’s behind this price increase.
What activities will be carried out and how much will they cost?
While in the 2020 contract the subject of the activities was named for what it was – integration of national providers, system upgrades, proactive monitoring – now RIA and Kapsch have opted for dry references to points and paragraphs.
In the new text the services are described simply as the performance of activities under “Article 1, paragraph 2, item 2.1” and “item 2.2” and with references to missing annexes, which should otherwise be a mandatory part of the contract. The only expansion is in the sub-points on additional activities where software updates and new components are mentioned very briefly.
The new detail in this chapter compared to the old contract is the linking of all rights and obligations to the so-called “Operating Manual” (Annex No. 4, which is again missing). Since this manual isn’t public the state has in effect signed a document whose actual content can be rewritten at any time without the knowledge of the public. The parties shall exercise/perform the rights and obligations under this contract in accordance with the version of the Operating Manual valid at the time of provision of the respective service.
The parties shall exercise/perform the rights and obligations under this agreement in accordance with the version of the Operating Manual valid at the time of provision of the relevant services. The Operating Manual may be amended by mutual agreement between the parties at any time; the version of the Operating Manual valid at the time of conclusion of this contract is attached to it as Annex No. 4 and forms an integral part thereof,” reads Article 1, paragraph 5.
The total amount of the new contract is calculated for 60 mos but the mechanism for its implementation isn’t particularly clear. This total amount is in fact made up of various components:
- Basic maintenance: €50.2 million (over BGN 98.2 million) has been allocated for this. The state will pay around €837 000 (over BGN 1.6 million) per month. This amount is “based on individual unit prices agreed in Annex No. 6.” Since this annex is missing it’s unclear how this monthly payment is calculated and why it’s fixed at this level;
- Estimated amount for “extras”: An additional €15 million (over BGN 29.3 million) is earmarked for upgrading and integration. Here, however, RIA abandons the principle of a fixed price. Payment will be made according to “the hours worked by the contractor’s employees” applying the relevant “hourly rates.” Here again there are references to articles, paragraphs and points as well as the missing Annex No. 6.
Will the RIA regain control over the system?
In the chapter “Intellectual Property Rights” at first glance the text of Article 10 sounds like a triumph for the state interest:
All copyrights and related rights to computer programs, developments and applications… and their source code… arise for the Contracting Authority in full, without restrictions on their use, modification and distribution.”
This sentence creates the illusion that the state’s the full owner of the toll system. The truth, however, is that the same text was included in the old maintenance contract, but in practice the state never had the opportunity to manage its own system.
This is confirmed by the section on the rights and obligations of the parties, which states that:
THE CONTRACTOR declares that it holds the relevant rights to the copyrighted works and know-how necessary for the performance of this contract, without any risk of infringing the intellectual property rights of any third party.”
Източник: Economic.bg
