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Essay competition in competition and procurement decided

Corruption, the factors that govern strategic choices in procurements and how the EU competition regulations relate to certain kinds of patent settlement agreements in the pharmaceutical sector. These are some of the subject areas addressed by the winners of the Swedish Competition Authority’s essay competition.

Essays on competition or public procurement are rewarded. The six winners share SEK 95,000.

“There is great interest among students of economics and law in specialising in procurement and competition issues. Such knowledge development is important for future challenges,” says Rikard Jermsten, Director-General of the Swedish Competition Authority.

Strategic purchasing
The award winners in the economics category are Astrid Petersson and Tone Riise Åberg who will share SEK 20,000. They are studying at the Department of Industrial Management and Logistics at the Faculty of Engineering of Lund University. The title of their essay is “Strategiskt inköp inom offentlig upphandling – en explorativ studie” [Strategic purchasing in public procurement – an explorative study]. The supervisors were Louise Bildsten and Per-Arne Jonsson.

An excerpt from the motivation: “This is an excellent study that focuses on the fundamental question: to what extent do procuring authorities work strategically on public procurement, and what factors influence this?”

Corruption
Fredrik Larsson at the Department of Political Science of the University of Gothenburg is also an award winner in the economics category, and he is receiving SEK 20,000 for the essay titled: ”Monitoring corruption: Civil society involvement in public procurement – A comparative study of the conditional effect of societal accountability in EU regions”. Marcia Grimes was the supervisor for the essay.

An excerpt from the motivation: “A well-written essay on a current and important topic: corruption in public procurement.”

Settlement agreements in patent disputes in the pharmaceutical sector
First prize in the law category goes to Christine-Jane Selenhag at the Department of Law of Stockholm University. She is receiving SEK 30,000 for her essay: “Pay-for-delay – A competition law analysis of settlement agreements in the pharmaceutical sector”. Björn Lundqvist was the supervisor.

In the motivation, the jury writes: “The essay is very well-written and examines a systematic way that the EU competition regulations relate to patent settlement agreements in the pharmaceutical sector, based on Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).”

Disqualification rules
Second prize in the law category goes to Jesper Fahlgren of the Department of Law at Uppsala University. He is receiving SEK 15,000 for the essay: “Utrymmet för rättelser av fel, förtydliganden och kompletteringar enligt 4 kap 9 § LOU” [Room for corrections of errors, clarifications and supplements pursuant to Chapter 4 Section 9 of the Public Procurement Act]. Olle Lundin was the supervisor for the essay. From the motivation: “It is clear that the possibility of corrections and supplements can contribute to more tenders and greater competition, at the same time that the principles of equal treatment and openness must be observed.”

Third prize in the law category goes to Jennifer Vestin at the Department of Law of Stockholm University. She is receiving SEK 10,000 for the essay titled: “Jäv i offentlig upphandling – Sveriges genomförande av jävsreglerna i 2014 års upphandlingsdirektiv” [Conflicts of interest in public procurement – Sweden’s implementation of the conflicts-of-interest rules in the 2014 procurement directive]. Andrea Sundstrand was the supervisor. From the motivation: “This essay methodically examines the issue of whether the Swedish conflict-of-interest rules, which are based on the EU procurement directive, are implemented in a complete and correct manner.”

“Several of the essays address public procurement. It’s clear that it is an area that more students are showing an interest in,” says Rikard Jermsten.

Last updated: 2021-05-07

Press release2 december 2019