Procurement Risk:
High
Score:
49/100
Government Policy
Q57
75/100
Does the country have legislation covering defence and security procurement with clauses specific to corruption risks, and are any items exempt from these laws?
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. Sweden has clear and comprehensive legislation that covers all defence and national security purchases.…
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The Law on Public Procurement in the Defence and Security Area [1] includes a section on ‘Conditions that shall result in the exclusion of…
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The legislation on defence procurement appears to be thoroughly implemented and followed for all defence procurement, as Swedish National Audit Office (NAO) has reported…
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Q58
83/100
Is the defence procurement cycle process, from assessment of needs, through contract implementation and sign-off, all the way to asset disposal, disclosed to the public?
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Defence procurement is planned by the government and the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF). The government and parliament are responsible for the long-term planning of…
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The processes and actors involved in defence procurement are publicly disclosed with generally clear explanations, and presented in disaggregated form (see Q58A) [1] [2]…
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As noted above (Q58A and Q58B), there are several policies and routine procedures in place for each step of the implementation process of the…
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Q59
83/100
Are defence procurement oversight mechanisms in place and are these oversight mechanisms active and transparent?
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Chapter 18 of the Law on Procurement in the Defence and Security Area [1] specifies the relevant oversight mechanisms for the SAF’s and Swedish…
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The procurement oversight agency KKV is active in the sense that they, in addition to conducting routine inspections of public procurement, may also initiate…
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KKV makes comprehensive evidence of their activities publicly available online, including press releases, a detailed record of investigations of illegal procurements in the past,…
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The Government recently published a lenghty public investigation report on the ‘Long-term materiel needs of the defence organisation’ which introduced the general directions for…
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Forward planning for potential purchases extend 8 years in advance are listed in the Sswedish Armed Forces document ‘planned materiel supply 2014-2021’ [1]. This…
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Defence purchases are made public with almost no exceptions, as Swedish Defence Materiel Administration Agency (FMV) lists ongoing defence procurements as well as upcoming…
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As noted in Q58B and Q61A, information on, and advertisement of, current and planned procurement contracts is shared widely via two tender bidding tools.…
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Capability Gap and Requirements Definition
Q62
50/100
What procedures and standards are companies required to have – such as compliance programmes and business conduct programmes – in order to be able to bid for work for the Ministry of Defence or armed forces?
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The Public Procurement Law [1] as well as the on the Law on Procurement in the Defence and Security Area [2] encompass the government…
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These policies and laws tend to be consistently implemented, but not always for strategically important suppliers. As noted in Q63 and Q73, the largest…
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Q63
75/100
Are procurement requirements derived from a national defence and security strategy, and are procurement decisions well-audited? Are defence purchases based on clearly identified and quantified requirements?
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Procurement requirements are generally derived from a national defence and security strategy and specified in documents like the Armed Forces’ ‘Planned Materiel Supply’ [1]…
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There is active scrutiny conducted by a number of legally or constitutionally mandated oversight mechanisms – centrally, the parliamentary Defence Committee [1] and the…
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The Defence Materiel Administration Agency and the Armed Forces base at least their major purchases on the clearly identified requirements as set out in…
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Tender Solicitation, Assessment and Contract Award
Q64
38/100
Is defence procurement generally conducted as open competition or is there a significant element of single-sourcing (that is, without competition)?
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In the past three years, 61%-63% of defence procurements have been conducted as an open competition, which means that non-advertised (or single-sourced) purchases constituted…
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Auditing bodies like the National Audit Office [1] and Swedish Competition Authority [2] have the power to question single-sourced tenders when reviewing FMV’s annual…
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Q65
63/100
Are tender boards subject to regulations and codes of conduct and are their decisions subject to independent audit to ensure due process and fairness?
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Swedish Defence Materiel Administration Agency (FMV) officials with a role in designing tender specification, or in tender board decisions, are subject to regulations and…
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There is a comprehensive audit trail, audited by the Swedish National Audit Office (NAO) [1], of which officials and politicians were involved in selecting…
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The FMV tender boards’ ‘internal regulations’ and other/related codes of conduct are only summarised online [1] and not otherwise made publicly available, but may…
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FMV summarises the procurement process in eight brief steps [1]. Among these, steps 1 and 2 involve ‘compiling material’ for the tender and then…
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Q66
75/100
Does the country have legislation in place to discourage and punish collusion between bidders for defence and security contracts?
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Chapter 2 of the Law on Competition, which also applies to the defence industry, clearly prohibits collusion, but only between bidders [1]. As noted…
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The Law on Competition [1] and the Act on Defence and Sensitive Security Procurement [2] enable officials to exclude companies where there is a…
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Collusion cases, although seemingly very rare [1], are investigated or prosecuted through the formal processeses set out in the Penal Code [2]. The Swedish…
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Swedish Defence Materiel Administration Agency (FMV) officials are subject to regulations and codes of conduct designed to prevent corruption. Procurement officials undergo some training…
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Contract Delivery and In-Service Support
Q67
33/100
Are there mechanisms and procedures that ensure that contractors meet their obligations on reporting and delivery?
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Sweden adheres to the European Commission’s Security Procurement Directive [1] which states that staff working in procurement must be able to ensure that defence…
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As noted in Q58B and Q61A, detailed information in the post-award stage of the procurement cycle – including data on total value, winning bidder,…
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FMV’s procurement process follows eight steps, as outlined on their website [1]. The 8th and final step is vaguely described as ‘follow-up of contract…
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There is not enough evidence to score this indicator, as such it is marked ‘Not Enough Information’. Sweden appears to consistently follow the European…
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Q68
100/100
Are there mechanisms in place to allow companies to complain about perceived malpractice in procurement, and are companies protected from discrimination when they use these mechanisms?
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Formal mechanisms are in place to allow companies to complain about perceived malpractice in procurement. A complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsmen (JO) can be…
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JO is a public agency that is generally believed to work efficiently. It does not charge for its services [1] [2].
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Companies in the defence sector are well protected against discrimination in procurements, as defined in Chapter 1 of the Public Procurement Law [1], and…
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There is clear legislation and implementing guidelines empowering procurement officials to exclude companies and senior company officials where there is a evidence of bribery…
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In line with the Penal Code [1] and Act on Defence and Sensitive Security Procurement [2], cases are investigated or prosecuted through formal processes.…
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No cases of such sanctions could be found in practice; however, there is a strong process in place through the Act on Defence and…
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Offset Contracts
Q70
0/100
When negotiating offset contracts, does the government specifically address corruption risk by imposing anti-corruption due diligence on contractors and third parties?
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Although offering offset contracts is a common practice in Swedish arms trade [1], no law or policy currently regulates this area [2] [3]. Swedish…
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As no offset-related policy or law exists [1] [2], the government cannot impose any anti-corruption due diligence, and the parliament’s right to audit offset…
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As with all international arms transfers, offset contracts is a common practice in Swedish arms export. However, regulation in this area is severely lacking,…
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Since no formal policies or laws outlining the reporting and delivery obligations for offset contracts exist [1] [2], the government is not obliged to…
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As noted in Q58B, Q61A, and Q67B, information in the post-award stage of the procurement cycle is an area which generally lacks transparency in…
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As no offset-related policies exist [1] [2], and since current legislation rather protects the integrity of private companies [3], the government and its procurement…
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Offering offset contracts is a common practice in Swedish arms trade, and especially in negotations concerning expensive weapon systems such as the fighter jet…
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Agents / Brokers
Q73
0/100
How strongly does the government control the company’s use of agents and intermediaries in the procurement cycle?
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The government imposes no restrictions on the use of agents and intermediaries, nor has it committed to doing so in any explicit or substantial…
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The recently adopted government proposition to strengthen the legal sanctions against companies [1] includes a series of law amendments that focus on improving the…
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Financing Package
Q74
0/100
Are the principal aspects of the financing package surrounding major arms deals, (such as payment timelines, interest rates, commercial loans or export credit agreements) made publicly available prior to the signing of contracts?
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For imported materiel and procurements administred by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration Agency (FMV), information regarding the post-award stage – including total value, financial…
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Seller Influence
Q75
NS/100
How common is it for defence acquisition decisions to be based on political influence by selling nations?
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. This question depends on how we define ‘political influence’. When the government decided to…
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. As noted in Q58, Q61, Q74 as well as in previous iterations of the…
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. It seems like no acquisitions during the studied time period have been granted as…
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