Bulgaria – Road-inspection services – „Провеждане на одити за пътна безопасност на обекти от републиканската пътна мрежа на съответните етапи от инвестиционния процес“

The subject of this public procurement is “Conducting road safety audits on objects of the republican road network at the respective stages of the investment process”. The purpose of the procurement is to conclude a Framework Agreement with the first 5 (five) ranked participants, respectively 5 (five) potential contractors, or fewer depending on the submitted offers and the participants admitted to ranking, for a period of 36 (thirty-six) months or until the financial resource is exhausted, whichever of the two events occurs first. After conducting the procedure with the participants determined as potential contractors, a Framework Agreement will be concluded, in which not all the conditions for awarding the specific contracts are determined. With a Decree of the Council of Ministers (CM) No. 125 of 16.06.2022, an Ordinance for the procedures for managing the safety of the road infrastructure was adopted, in force from 21.06.2022, publ. State Gazette No. 46 of 21.06.2022. The Ordinance regulates the scope, content, conditions and procedure for carrying out the procedures for managing the safety of the road infrastructure. One of these procedures is the road safety audit. According to Art. 2, para. 2 and para. 3 of the Ordinance, the procedure shall be applied to roads - part of the trans-European road network, for motorways and other first-class roads, regardless of whether they are at the design, construction or operation stage, with the exception of roads in tunnels, covered by Directive 2004/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on minimum safety requirements for tunnels on the trans-European road network. The procedure also applies to roads, and road infrastructure projects, located outside urbanized territories, not servicing properties bordering them, and which are completed with financing from the European Union (EU), with the exception of roads, which are not open for public use. The road safety audit is an independent, detailed, systematic check for technical safety of the design characteristics of the road infrastructure, an integral part of the process of its investment design, construction and operation, and is carried out mandatorily at the following stages: 1. before the approval and approval of the conceptual design (hereinafter referred to as the "Conceptual Design" stage); 2. before the approval and approval of the technical/working project (hereinafter referred to as the "Technical Design" stage); 3. immediately after the signing of the Constative Act under Art. 176, para. 1 of the Law on Spatial Development (LSD) (hereinafter referred to as the "Pre-Operation" stage); 4. at the initial operation of the road (hereinafter referred to as the "Initial Operation" stage). The road safety audit ends with a report, which is an integral part of the investment project. Road safety audits are subject to objects/projects for new construction, reconstruction and major repair of roads from the Republican Road Network (RRN), as it should be entrusted at each of the stages of the investment process, through which the object/project will pass - conceptual design, technical design, pre-operation and initial operation. The subject of the public procurement, as well as of the specific awards (contracts), includes a description of the activities under the procurement, in accordance with the Requirements for Performance (Appendix No. 1), attached to the public procurement documentation, and the respective Task for conducting a road safety audit for the respective object/project from the RRN at the respective stage(s) of the investment process, as follows: a) Conducting a road safety audit on objects/projects from the RRN at the respective stage(s) of the investment process; b) Conducting an introductory and concluding meeting between representatives of the Principal and the determined Contractor; c) Preparation and submission of a Preliminary Audit Report; d) Preparation and submission of a Final Audit Report, containing the results of the independent, detailed, systematic check for technical safety of the design characteristics of the road infrastructure as a result of the conducted road safety audit of the respective object/project from the RRN at the respective stage(s) of the investment process; e) Familiarization with the subject of the specific awarded contract; visit to the object; carrying out additional activities related to the preparation of the contract, not mentioned in the description of the separately awarded contracts, but related to their quality execution, for which the determined Contractor will not have any claims against the Principal; f) All other activities necessary for the performance of the subject of the public procurement.

IMPORTANT! When executing a public procurement under each specific contract, the priority of the documents is: Framework Agreement, Requirements for Performance, Specific Contract!