No extreme urgency when Tyresö purchased IT services
During a year and a half, the municipality of Tyresö purchased IT services without prior publication as required in the procurement rules. The municipality has stated that this was due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Swedish Competition Authority views this as being due to lack of planning, and is now requesting that the municipality be sentenced to pay a procurement fine for performance of an illegal direct award.
The Swedish Competition Authority’s petition regarding a procurement fine relates to a contract on rental of a virtualization platform, including add-on services, that the municipality of Tyresö concluded in September 2021. The contract was concluded without the municipality performing prior publication of a contract notice in accordance with the procurement rules. The value of the contract is in excess of SEK 5.7 million. The municipality had entered into several contracts of a similar type, which were also concluded without prior notice.
The municipality claims that the increased workload due to the pandemic meant that there was reason to postpone publication of the procurement. Requirements on new technical solutions led to a greatly increased workload and a need to prioritize among tasks, according to the municipality.
The Swedish Competition Authority understands that the municipality was in a demanding situation, but does not believe that any extreme urgency was at hand when the contract in question was concluded in September 2021. Even under the circumstances at hand, the municipality should have been able to perform a procurement well in advance, as the contract was signed relatively long after the start of the pandemic.
“A contracting authority must have routines in place to ensure that procurements can be planned well ahead of time. The fact that periods of increased workloads can arise is something that the contracting authority must take into account in its planning,” says Rikard Jermsten, Director-General of the Swedish Competition Authority.
The Swedish Competition Authority is now petitioning the Administrative Court of Stockholm that the municipality of Tyresö be issued a procurement fine of SEK 450,000 for having performed an illegal direct award of contract.
For further information, please contact:
Marie Strömberg Lindvall, Press Officer, +46(0)76 542 15 92, marie.stromberglindvall@kkv.se
Stefan Olsen Siri, Legal Counsel, +46(0)8 700 15 37, stefan.olsensiri@kkv.se
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Last updated: 2022-10-05
Press release29 september 2022