Page content

Sundbyberg Municipality made incorrect purchases of cleaning services

Sundbyberg Municipality made an illegal direct award of contract for the city halls’ cleaning services. This is the conclusion of the Swedish Competition Authority, which is now petitioning that the municipality be ordered to pay a procurement fine of SEK 1 million.

In April 2020, Sundbyberg Municipality entered into an agreement regarding cleaning services for its city hall. It did so without having first advertised the procurement in accordance with the Public Procurement Act. The value of the procurement amounts to approximately SEK 12 million. The Swedish Competition Authority considers the agreement to constitute an illegal direct award of contract.

The investigation of the Swedish Competition Authority indicates that Sundbyberg Municipality has met its cleaning services needs via direct procurements. The municipality lacks tendered agreements for the services covering several of its areas of operation. In addition to the agreement to which the present claim relates, these include the municipality’s Eldercare Administration and its Culture and Leisure Administration. The Swedish Competition Authority also notes that there are shortcomings in the municipality’s documentation of concluded agreements. For certain time periods and areas of operation, documentation is lacking altogether.

“A contracting authority must plan and organise its procurements in such a way that the authority complies with the Public Procurement Act. That includes both good planning in advance of a purchase as well as a well-functioning system for contract follow-up,” says Rikard Jermsten, Director General of the Swedish Competition Authority.

The Swedish Competition Authority is now turning to the Administrative Court in Stockholm and petitioning that Sundbyberg Municipality be ordered to pay a procurement fine of SEK 1 million.

For further information, please contact:

Marie Strömberg Lindvall, Communications Officer, +46 (0)76 542 15 92, marie.stromberglindvall@kkv.se
Maria Andersson Müller, Legal Counsel, +46 (0)87 00 15 65, maria.anderssonmuller@kkv.se

Related link

Last updated: 2021-05-31

Press release1 april 2021