Nyköping performed an illegal direct award of contract for groundworks

On two occasions, in March 2019 and January 2020, Nyköping Municipality published a contract notice regarding surfacing and groundworks. Both procurement processes were cancelled due to the discovery of deficiencies in the procurement documents presenting a risk for tenders with tactical pricing.

In March 2020, the municipality signed a new framework agreement for surfacing and groundworks without a prior notice in accordance with the Swedish Public Procurement Act (SFS 2016:1145). The total value of the procurement is SEK 9.5 million. The Swedish Competition Authority deems that the municipality has made an illegal direct award of contract.

“A contracting authority must plan its procurement with sufficient foresight to ensure that an agreement can be entered into without the contracting authority breaching procurement rules,” says Rikard Jermsten, Director General of the Swedish Competition Authority.

The Swedish Competition Authority is now applying to the Administrative Court in Linköping to impose a procurement fine of SEK 600,000 on Nyköping Municipality.

For further information, please contact:

Marie Strömberg Lindvall, Communications Officer, +46 76 542 15 92, marie.stromberglindvall@kkv.se
Sophia Anderberg, Legal Counsel, +46 8 700 15 63, sophia.anderberg@kkv.se

Read the application, dnr 215/2021 (in Swedish)