10.07.2014

For the first six months of 2014 more than BGN 37.7 million have been paid to beneficiaries of Operational Programme Administrative Capacity (OPAC); since the beginning of the programming period in 2007 the sums paid total BGN 227.2 million, being 64.2% of the overall OPAC budget.

At the same time the accelerated verification process continues and as a result thereof the OPAC Managing Authority (MA) has issued a new report for certification with application for reimbursement of BGN 7,898,330. The sum includes 126 payment requests by beneficiaries and is verified by the OPAC experts only in the last month; the approved and verified expenses of OPAC beneficiaries after 2007 as of the moment total almost BGN 196.6 million (55.6% of the budget).

On 1 July, the last tranche under the Operational Programme was received from the European Commission in relation to an approved Certification Report for June. Thus the funds received from the EC for the first six months of 2014 amount to EUR 13.5 million; the sum exceeds the tranches received under the Programme for 2011 and 2012, being 55% of the reimbursed by the EC funds for 2013.

The OPAC MA's analysis shows that thanks to the ex-ante control considerable percentage of omissions and errors are corrected and infringements in selection and document preparation for public procurement are avoided. An analysis of the risk projects has been made and they are monitored on a daily basis.

To minimize the risk of losing funds the OPAC MA has increased by BGN 12 million the budget of procedure budget line BG051PO002/13/2.2-14. Thus all 147 project proposals that have successfully passed quality assessment within the procedure can be financed. Contracts for more than BGN 45.2 million have been concluded since the beginning of the year and thus the funds contracted under OPAC amount to almost BGN 376.7 million or 106.5% of the overall budget. With regard to the N+2 rule for 2014 the OPAC MA considers that no funds will be lost in the current year.