Only one bidder took part when two guardrail contracts with the Road Infrastructure Agency were awarded, the company "Jupiter 05" OOD, owned by Nikolay Ivanov — known as "Niki the Guardrail" — the DPS party told a briefing in parliament.
The company is part of "Jupiter Holding" AD, and Nikolay Lyubomirov Ivanov owns both the company and the holding, MP Hamid Hamid said. "Jupiter 05 OOD, part of the holding, has signed several large contracts with the Road Infrastructure Agency, two of them from late 2022," he said.
This raises the question of whether restrictive conditions were set so that only one company could qualify, Hamid said.
He blamed the price rises on a formula for adjusting public procurement contract prices for inflation, adopted by a government decree on September 27, 2022, when the caretaker cabinet of prime minister Galab Donev was in charge. Hamid called the formula "flawed" and said it had let price adjustments run as high as 50% of a contract's value.
According to figures given by the DPS, price adjustments topped 35% in 2023, over 36% in 2024 and more than 38% in 2025, with the contract's total price rising by 160% over that period. Hamid called the increase the result of a "corrupt formula".
Halil Letifov of the DPS called the figures worrying, adding that he was also troubled by suggestions of links behind these contracts, which he said need to be properly checked and made public.
"We need answers to several questions — who is linked to Niki the Guardrail, and are there links to the top ranks of the ruling "Progressive Bulgaria" party," Letifov said. He also asked whether advisers to the prime minister had visited properties owned by Ivanov, including hotels and hunting estates, and what the connection between them is.