Swedish Police Authority purchased shell garments in an incorrect way

The Swedish Competition Authority initiated the case after noticing, through its market monitoring, that the Swedish Police Authority had purchased shell garments in the form of rainwear without first publishing a contract notice in accordance with the public procurement rules.

The Swedish Police Authority’s previous contract for shell garments expired in January 2021. A new procurement was not announced until two years later, and that process was subsequently cancelled in September 2023. To avoid a situation where rainwear would be lacking, the Swedish Police Authority instead placed a purchase order directly with the supplier. A binding agreement was entered into between the parties in April 2024. According to the Swedish Competition Authority the value of the procurement is just over SEK 47 million.

The Swedish Police Authority argues that it was not possible to open the contract to competition, as it would take too long for a new supplier to start and implement production on the scale needed. Therefore, they claim, there was no alternative but to make the purchases as quickly as possible to meet the urgent need for shell garments.

“The main rule is that procurements must be announced so that all interested suppliers are given the same opportunity to submit tenders. Exemptions from the obligation to announce may only be used under very exceptional circumstances. A contracting authority must therefore plan its work with sufficient foresight so that procurements can be scheduled well in advance,” says Marie Östman, Director General of the Swedish Competition Authority.

The Swedish Competition Authority concludes that as early as January 2021, the Swedish Police Authority should have realized that there would be a future need for shell garments and that there was sufficient time to prepare and carry out an announced procurement. The urgency that arose was due to the Authority’s own actions and thus does not constitute an exception to the requirement to advertise under public procurement rules.

According to the Swedish Competition Authority’s decision, the Swedish Police Authority must pay a procurement fine of SEK four million for undertaking an illegal direct award of contract.

The decision can be appealed to the Administrative Court in Stockholm.

Marie Strömberg Lindvall, Press Officer, +46 08-700 15 92, Marie.StrombergLindvall@kkv.se
Elin Kolbjer, Senior Case Officer, +46 08-523 149 15, Elin.Kolbjer@kkv.se

Read the decision (in Swedish), dnr 287/2024