Improving public investment efficiency and effectiveness in Bulgaria

The Commission helped at identifying ways to improve public investment efficiency and effectiveness in Bulgaria. The support provided helped the Bulgarian authorities to strengthen the legal and regulatory framework of public investment management, as well as enhance the methodology for the preparation, selection, budgeting and monitoring of investment projects.

Context

Improving public investment efficiency and effectiveness has become a main priority for the Bulgarian Government. Prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bulgaria was already taking steps to increase public infrastructure investment both from national sources and co-financed by EU funds.

Bulgaria's Recovery and Resilience Plan supports the digital transition, including network expansion, digitalisation of the public administration and businesses, as well as of the transport and energy sectors. The project supported the Bulgarian administration in its efforts to strengthen institutional and administrative capacity at the national level, to facilitate social inclusiveness and deliver on the green and digital transitions.

Moreover, the support helped Bulgaria to effectively address the challenges identified in the European Semester country-specific recommendations and to implement EU legislation.

Support delivered

The project delivered the following outputs:

• Analysis of current practices in public investment, legal, regulatory framework and planning.
• Concrete, actionable recommendations for strengthening public sector’s expertise and capacity to manage public investments, as well as manuals to support the implementation of the tailored recommendations. The recommendations covered: long-term strategic vision and planning, coordination across sectors and between levels of government, project selection, prioritisation and appraisal processes, capital budgeting and fiscal sustainability, value for money for public and private investment in infrastructure and integrating stakeholder engagement into planning and decision making.
• Capacity-building workshops to strengthen the expertise and capacities of the Bulgarian administration

Results achieved

The project identified a number of good practices that already exist across Bulgaria and could be being applied more widely across Bulgaria’s public investment system. The project also identified best practice approaches from other EU Member States and beyond, which Bulgaria would benefit from adopting.

Assuming the recommendations are endorsed, Bulgaria can reap the advantages of a public investment system that is better equipped to improve the wellbeing and prosperity of the Bulgarian people and facilitate the shift towards a more green, digital, and inclusive future.

Useful links

https://www.oecd.org/publications/public-investment-in-bulgaria-b73ef3b4-en.htm