A licence for operation or a concession will be awarded to a privatized state-owned enterprise without auction or competitive bidding if so provided for in the privatization contract. This is one of three amendments to the Transformation and Privatization of State-Owned and Municipal-Owned Enterprises Act which Parliament passed on first reading Thursday. The Council of Ministers, which proposed the bill, reasons that the amendments will enable the buyer to manage the property it has purchased more effectively. For its part, the opposition argues that the amendments are intended above all to facilitate the sale of the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC). The three clauses were passed by the majority after a long debate. According to a second amendment, privatized enterprises can be awarded public procurements without a bidding procedure if the procuring entity and the contractor or supplier are connected persons. In such a case, the contract should be approved by the Council of Ministers. A third amendment concerns the fund-raising account to which the privatization proceeds are credited