OSOR has published its second update of the Bulgaria Country Report, examining the evolution and recent developments in open source software adoption in the country over the past three years. You can find the report here and the factsheet here.
Overall, the report shows that recent developments have centred on consolidating existing solutions and policies.
There has been an important reorganisation of digital competencies within the Bulgarian government. The Ministry of e-Government and the Ministry of Innovation and Growth have merged to form the new Ministry of Innovation and Digital Transformation. Established in April 2026 following the resignation of the previous government and the subsequent parliamentary elections, the Ministry is now the main government body responsible for the state's digital development and technology policy. This includes overseeing the digital transformation of the public sector to ensure the efficiency of public services. The ministry recently released the Integrated Citizen Monitoring and Analysis System (SIGMA), which provides real-time insight into public authority spending through public procurement in all sectors. The project was published under an MIT licence, indicating interest in open source software from the new government.
Bulgaria’s digital legal framework has been built up since 2007. Although no new legislation has been introduced in the past three years, the 2007 eGovernment Act continues to have a significant impact, stipulating that all software commissioned by the state must be open source.
At a local level, Sofia Municipality has become a key player in the Bulgarian public administration's adoption of open source software. Since 2019, the capital city has maintained an open source approach, prioritising open source software. Additionally, AI has become a vital sector for developing open source software in Bulgaria, as demonstrated by the creation of BgGPT, an open source AI model designed specifically for the Bulgarian language. Since its release, the model has been implemented on public administration workstations.
