Kristianstad awarded a construction works contract without advertising the procurement

“Works that relate to anything other than what is set out in the publication notice cannot be included in a previously completed procurement”, according to Rikard Jermsten, the Director-General of the Swedish Competition Authority.

In 2016, the Municipality of Kristianstad procured a reconstruction of the Central sewage treatment plant of the Municipality. The procurement took place in two different phases, and in the second phase, a decision was made to add the construction of an expansion of a different plant, the Degeberga sewage treatment plant, also located in the municipality.

The Municipality signed a contract for the project with the same contractor that had been awarded the contract for the Central sewage plant project. According to the Swedish Competition Authority, this is illegal direct award of a contract.

“Illegal direct awards are serious violations of the procurement rules, and we prioritise this type of violation of the law as part of our monitoring of compliance with the procurement rules”, Rikard Jermsten declared.

The Swedish Competition Authority is now petitioning the Administrative Court in Malmö to impose a procurement fine in the amount of SEK 800,000 on the Municipality for violation of the Act on Procurement within the Water, Energy, Transport and Postal Services Sectors (LUF).

Read the application, dnr 60/2020 (in Swedish)