Worst in the EU at notifying the value of contract awards

All public procurements above certain thresholds must be published in the EU’s TED database. When contracts are awarded, this must also be published in TED by way of a so-called contract award notice. Among other information, the contract award notice must state which supplier was awarded the contract as well as the estimated total value of the contract.

Statistics from previous years have shown that only nine per cent of Swedish contracting authorities’ contract award notices contain information about the value of the contract. This makes Sweden the worst country in the EU for compliance with the contract award notice rules.

“It is important to be transparent and open when discussing which company has been awarded a contract. This makes it possible for both the general public and competitors to have an insight into the procurement process, which is a prerequisite for maintaining long-term confidence”, says the Swedish Competition Authority’s Deputy Director General Karin Lunning.

In conjunction with the publication of the report (entitled ‘Monitoring of contract award notices’), the Swedish Competition Authority has also listed the decisions for no less than nineteen different monitoring cases. In all these cases, criticism has been levelled at government authorities, municipalities and regions for not following the rules on contract award notification.

The purpose of the publication of the report and the regulatory decisions is to encourage more organisations to comply with the contract award notice rules in the future. Another of the aims is to identify the reasons why Swedish contracting authorities often fail to comply with the rules on contract award notices. Such information can serve as a guide for all contracting authorities.

“It is important to have transparency and to account for how taxpayers’ money is being used. Contract award notices contain information about which companies are awarded the contracts as well as the contracts’ value.

“It is surprising that Sweden is the worst in the EU at showing such transparency. From now on, I hope that we will be able to demonstrate an improvement”, says Karin Lunning.

Read the report, 2017:6 (in Swedish)