The “transport services” sector (CPV 60) — public passenger transport, specialised transport, school transport, freight — ranks fifth by value among Bulgarian public tenders, with €1.72 billion across 2,748 contracts for May 2023 – June 2026. By count it is the smallest of the five leading sectors, but it hides one remarkable feature: the highest average contract value — €828,764.
A market of local monopolies
And here the average lies brutally. The median is just €23,192 — the largest skew of any sector. The explanation lies in the structure: a few enormous urban-transport contracts (passenger services on routes in the big cities, worth tens of millions) drive the average up dramatically, while the mass of tenders is small — school transport in a municipality, specialised transport for a social service, one-off journeys.
The two worlds are fundamentally different. The urban-transport megacontracts are strategic, long-term, and have few possible contractors. The small transport jobs are local, frequent, and low-value. But both share one defining trait: there is almost no competition.
1.4 bids: the shallowest market
Here is the number that defines the sector: an average of 1.4 bids per tender, with a median of 1. That is the lowest competition among the five leading sectors. The typical transport-services tender has a single participant.
The reason is the local nature of the service. Transport requires a fleet stationed in the right region, drivers registered locally, licences for the specific type of carriage. A firm from Varna will struggle to run school transport in Smolyan. The result is a market of local monopolies — in each region and for each type of service there is a handful, often a single, realistic contractor.
For business, this is an ambiguous opportunity. On one hand — if you have the fleet and the licences for a given region, your chance of winning is high, because you are often the only candidate. On the other — entering a new market is hard, because it demands physical presence (vehicles, drivers, a depot) wherever the service is needed.
The low competition also explains the price dynamics: a median deviation of 0.0% — the final price is exactly the estimated one. When you are the sole participant, there is no one to push the price down. The average deviation (−11%) comes from the few competitive procedures, but the median is unequivocal: transport services are awarded at the estimated value.
The criterion and the paperwork
Awards are made predominantly on “lowest price” (67.8%), but a third of tenders include a quality component — the quality of the fleet, its emissions class, the organisation of the service. The dominant procedure is the open procedure (about 48%).
The documentation is moderate: a technical specification of 4.3 pages on average, a contract notice of 10.3 pages, but 50.6 documents per tender — a comparatively high count, because the requirements on vehicles and staff generate a multitude of annexes, statements and declarations.
It is precisely these annexes that are the sector’s Achilles heel.
The five traps
Almost none of them concerns the substance of the service — bidders drop out over paperwork.
- 1 Incomplete annexes for vehicles and staff #1
Missing or inaccurately completed statements, declarations and certificates — with 50 documents per tender, the sheer volume is a risk in itself.
- 2 Non-compliant fleet #2
Wrongly described composition or age of the vehicles, missing proof of roadworthiness — a valid annual technical inspection, insurance.
- 3 Pricing errors #3
Confusing unit and total values, inconsistency with the technical specification — fatal under a dominant price criterion.
- 4 Invalid driver-qualification documents #4
Digital tachograph card, psychological assessments, the relevant licence categories — their absence or expiry is a frequent cause of exclusion.
- 5 Formal and deadline lapses #5
Improperly drawn up or late-submitted documents lead to automatic rejection.
What all these causes have in common is that almost none of them concerns the substance of the service. No one drops out because they cannot drive. They drop out over paperwork — an expired technical inspection, a forgotten declaration, an invalid tachograph card.
Who buys and who wins
The buyers here are heavily polarised. The absolute leader is the Ministry of Transport with nearly €1.4 billion — almost the entire large volume of the market passes through it, because it awards the large-scale contracts for rail and subsidised bus transport at national level. The remaining contracting authorities — municipalities, ministries, enterprises — award incomparably smaller tenders for school, social and staff transport. This polarisation explains why the average value is so high (€829k) while the median is so low (€23k): a handful of state megacontracts against hundreds of local micro-tenders.
On the contractor side, the picture is emblematic.
The biggest player is BDZ – Passenger Services with over €980 million — the national rail carrier, which in practice has no competition in its segment. Next comes Ivkoni Express (€416M) — the leading private bus operator. This structure is the very definition of a market of few dominant players: in rail transport there is almost no competition, and in bus transport it is regional and limited.
The annual dynamics show a small but growing market — from token volumes in 2023 to steady tens of millions in 2025. The growth is tied to the renewal of public-transport contracts and subsidised routes.
82% with one bidder — the market’s record
If there is one number that captures the whole sector, it is this:
Four out of every five procedures are not a contest but the formalisation of an already obvious contractor.
The reason, as we have seen, is the local and capital-intensive nature of the service. But the consequence is strategic: this is the market where eligibility is practically everything. When you are the sole candidate in 82% of cases, you are not competing with anyone — you are competing with your own paperwork. The only real threat to your win is eliminating yourself over an expired technical inspection or an invalid tachograph card. That is why the successful carrier’s entire focus is not outward, at competitors, but inward — at the flawlessness of its own annexes.
Playbook for the carrier
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Match the requirements against your actual resources before bidding. Fleet, staff, licences — verify that you cover every requirement before investing time in a bid.
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Keep vehicle and driver documents permanently up to date. Technical inspections, insurance, tachograph cards, psychological assessments — this is the most common cause of exclusion and the most easily preventable one. Set up an internal validity calendar.
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Use a checklist for the annexes. With 50 documents per tender, manual review is not enough — systematise.
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Optimise the price without compromising compliance. With 68% of awards decided on price, price is decisive — but not at the expense of the requirements: the cheapest bid that drops out loses.
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Think locally, expand strategically. The market is regional; growth runs through physical presence in new territories, not remote participation.
The process and the regulatory highlights
The transport-services procedure (an open procedure in about half of cases) requires a specific package that reflects the substance of the service. Beyond the standard ESPD and price offer, the provider must present proof of the fleet (composition, age, ownership or lease, valid annual technical inspections, insurance) and of the staff (drivers with the relevant categories, digital tachograph cards, psychological assessments, and — for passenger transport — a carriage licence). It is precisely these annexes, not the substance of the bid, where eligibility is decided.
In regulatory terms, transport services rest on the licensing regime for road transport (a Community licence or a national licence, depending on the type of carriage) plus the general rules of the Public Procurement Act. Article 107 is again the basis for most exclusions — the fleet or the staff failing to meet the requirements. Where a quality component exists — in about a third of tenders — the scoring methodology often assesses the emissions class and the condition of the vehicles.
The trend that will shape the sector is the renewal and greening of fleets. The push for low-carbon public transport, EU funding for electric buses and stricter environmental requirements will favour carriers with modern, clean vehicles. For the dominant players such as BDZ and the large bus operators, that means an investment cycle; for mid-sized carriers, an opportunity to score quality points with a renewed, green fleet where previously only price won. In a market where 82% of tenders see no real competition, it is precisely these quality criteria that will become the new field of differentiation.
Conclusion
Transport services are the least competitive market in Bulgarian public procurement — one bidder per typical tender, the highest average value, yet a heavily fragmented reality. Here you do not lose to competitors but to your own paperwork: an expired inspection, an invalid tachograph card, a forgotten fleet statement. For the carrier with an available fleet, impeccable licences and document discipline, this is among the most accessible markets — you are often the only candidate, and you win at the estimated price. The challenge is not to beat the competition, but to avoid eliminating yourself with a formal error — and to keep every document for every vehicle and every driver permanently valid.
That is exactly what our requirements ↔ documents check and our declarations & ESPD preparation are for — they catch the expired inspection and the missing statement before the committee does.
Data: the official OCDS dataset of the CAIS EOP platform, 2,748 contracts under CPV 60, May 2023 – June 2026. Statistics: own analysis. Values in euros.
