Illegal procurements of temporary physicians

In 2017, the county councils in Jämtland Härjedalen, Norrbotten, Västernorrland, and Västerbotten illegally awarded staffing service contracts directly. The procured services were for specialist physicians, whose contracts were directly awarded as a jointly advertised procurement had been delayed. The delay was in part due to the county councils advertising the procurement too late, and in part due to a lodged court appeal.

“Illegal direct awarding of contracts is a serious violation of the procurement regulations,” says the Swedish Competition Authority’s Director-General, Rikard Jermsten.

The total value of the directly awarded contracts can be estimated at around SEK 778 million. The Swedish Competition Authority now turns to the administrative courts in Luleå, Härnösand, and Umeå, asking that the county councils be ordered to pay procurement fines as follows: Jämtland Härjedalen SEK 3.5 million, Norrbotten SEK 4 million, Västernorrland SEK 5.5 million and Västerbotten SEK 4.2 million.

“Ending up without a contract is not good. Especially for complicated procurements, it is important to plan and organise procurements in a way where you can advertise them well ahead of time,” says Rikard Jermsten.

“When procurements are done jointly through a representative, in this case one of the four county councils, each procuring authority still has its own responsibility for ensuring that the procurement regulations are complied with.”

Read the application, dnr 651/2018 in Swedish)

Read the application, dnr 652/2018 (in Swedish)

Read the application, dnr 653/2018 (in Swedish)

Read the application, dnr 654/2018 (in Swedish)