Procurement Risk:

High

Score:

49/100

Government Policy

Collapse
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?

View Question
Legal framework Score: NS / 100
This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. Sweden has clear and comprehensive legislation that covers all defence and national security purchases.…
Explore
Corruption risks Score: 50 / 100
The Law on Public Procurement in the Defence and Security Area [1] includes a section on ‘Conditions that shall result in the exclusion of…
Explore
Effectiveness Score: 100 / 100
The legislation on defence procurement appears to be thoroughly implemented and followed for all defence procurement, as Swedish National Audit Office (NAO) has reported…
Explore
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?

View Question
Formal procedures Score: 100 / 100
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…
Explore
Transparency Score: 100 / 100
The processes and actors involved in defence procurement are publicly disclosed with generally clear explanations, and presented in disaggregated form (see Q58A) [1] [2]…
Explore
Implementation Score: 50 / 100
As noted above (Q58A and Q58B), there are several policies and routine procedures in place for each step of the implementation process of the…
Explore
Q59 83/100

Are defence procurement oversight mechanisms in place and are these oversight mechanisms active and transparent?

View Question
Independence Score: 100 / 100
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…
Explore
Effectiveness Score: 50 / 100
The procurement oversight agency KKV is active in the sense that they, in addition to conducting routine inspections of public procurement, may also initiate…
Explore
Transparency Score: 100 / 100
KKV makes comprehensive evidence of their activities publicly available online, including press releases, a detailed record of investigations of illegal procurements in the past,…
Explore
Q60 88/100

Are potential defence purchases made public?

View Question
Policies Score: 100 / 100
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…
Explore
Notice of planned purchases Score: 75 / 100
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…
Explore
Q61 25/100

Are actual defence purchases made public?

View Question
Comprehensiveness Score: 50 / 100
Defence purchases are made public with almost no exceptions, as Swedish Defence Materiel Administration Agency (FMV) lists ongoing defence procurements as well as upcoming…
Explore
Accessible data Score: 0 / 100
As noted in Q58B and Q61A, information on, and advertisement of, current and planned procurement contracts is shared widely via two tender bidding tools.…
Explore

Capability Gap and Requirements Definition

Expand
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?

View Question
Formal policies Score: 25 / 100
The Public Procurement Law [1] as well as the on the Law on Procurement in the Defence and Security Area [2] encompass the government…
Explore
Consistent implementation Score: 75 / 100
These policies and laws tend to be consistently implemented, but not always for strategically important suppliers. As noted in Q63 and Q73, the largest…
Explore
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?

View Question
Procurement requirements Score: 75 / 100
Procurement requirements are generally derived from a national defence and security strategy and specified in documents like the Armed Forces’ ‘Planned Materiel Supply’ [1]…
Explore
Scrutiny Score: 100 / 100
There is active scrutiny conducted by a number of legally or constitutionally mandated oversight mechanisms – centrally, the parliamentary Defence Committee [1] and the…
Explore
Purchases Score: 50 / 100
The Defence Materiel Administration Agency and the Armed Forces base at least their major purchases on the clearly identified requirements as set out in…
Explore

Tender Solicitation, Assessment and Contract Award

Expand
Q64 38/100

Is defence procurement generally conducted as open competition or is there a significant element of single-sourcing (that is, without competition)?

View Question
Open competition Score: 50 / 100
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…
Explore
Scrutiny of single/restricted competition procedures Score: 25 / 100
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…
Explore
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?

View Question
Conflicts of interest Score: 100 / 100
Swedish Defence Materiel Administration Agency (FMV) officials with a role in designing tender specification, or in tender board decisions, are subject to regulations and…
Explore
Audit Trail Score: 100 / 100
There is a comprehensive audit trail, audited by the Swedish National Audit Office (NAO) [1], of which officials and politicians were involved in selecting…
Explore
Transparency Score: 50 / 100
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…
Explore
Scrutiny Score: 0 / 100
FMV summarises the procurement process in eight brief steps [1]. Among these, steps 1 and 2 involve ‘compiling material’ for the tender and then…
Explore
Q66 75/100

Does the country have legislation in place to discourage and punish collusion between bidders for defence and security contracts?

View Question
Legal framework Score: 50 / 100
Chapter 2 of the Law on Competition, which also applies to the defence industry, clearly prohibits collusion, but only between bidders [1]. As noted…
Explore
Sanctions Score: 100 / 100
The Law on Competition [1] and the Act on Defence and Sensitive Security Procurement [2] enable officials to exclude companies where there is a…
Explore
Enforcement Score: 100 / 100
Collusion cases, although seemingly very rare [1], are investigated or prosecuted through the formal processeses set out in the Penal Code [2]. The Swedish…
Explore
Training Score: 50 / 100
Swedish Defence Materiel Administration Agency (FMV) officials are subject to regulations and codes of conduct designed to prevent corruption. Procurement officials undergo some training…
Explore

Contract Delivery and In-Service Support

Expand
Q67 33/100

Are there mechanisms and procedures that ensure that contractors meet their obligations on reporting and delivery?

View Question
Reporting policies & procedures Score: 50 / 100
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…
Explore
Transparency Score: 25 / 100
As noted in Q58B and Q61A, detailed information in the post-award stage of the procurement cycle – including data on total value, winning bidder,…
Explore
Monitoring Score: 25 / 100
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…
Explore
Enforcement Score: NEI / 100
There is not enough evidence to score this indicator, as such it is marked ‘Not Enough Information’. Sweden appears to consistently follow the European…
Explore
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?

View Question
Complaints mechanisms Score: 100 / 100
Formal mechanisms are in place to allow companies to complain about perceived malpractice in procurement. A complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsmen (JO) can be…
Explore
Effectiveness and Accessibility Score: 100 / 100
JO is a public agency that is generally believed to work efficiently. It does not charge for its services [1] [2].
Explore
Retaliation Score: 100 / 100
Companies in the defence sector are well protected against discrimination in procurements, as defined in Chapter 1 of the Public Procurement Law [1], and…
Explore
Q69 100/100

What sanctions are used to punish the corrupt activities of a supplier?

View Question
Sanctions Score: 100 / 100
There is clear legislation and implementing guidelines empowering procurement officials to exclude companies and senior company officials where there is a evidence of bribery…
Explore
Undue influence Score: 100 / 100
In line with the Penal Code [1] and Act on Defence and Sensitive Security Procurement [2], cases are investigated or prosecuted through formal processes.…
Explore
Application of sanctions Score: 100 / 100
No cases of such sanctions could be found in practice; however, there is a strong process in place through the Act on Defence and…
Explore

Offset Contracts

Expand
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?

View Question
Legal framework Score: 0 / 100
Although offering offset contracts is a common practice in Swedish arms trade [1], no law or policy currently regulates this area [2] [3]. Swedish…
Explore
Due diligence Score: 0 / 100
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…
Explore
Q71 0/100

How does the government monitor offset contracts?

View Question
Policies & procedures Score: 0 / 100
As with all international arms transfers, offset contracts is a common practice in Swedish arms export. However, regulation in this area is severely lacking,…
Explore
Transparency Score: 0 / 100
Since no formal policies or laws outlining the reporting and delivery obligations for offset contracts exist [1] [2], the government is not obliged to…
Explore
Monitoring Score: 0 / 100
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…
Explore
Enforcement Score: 0 / 100
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…
Explore
Q72 0/100

What level of competition are offset contracts subject to?

View Question
Score: 0 / 100
Offering offset contracts is a common practice in Swedish arms trade, and especially in negotations concerning expensive weapon systems such as the fighter jet…
Explore

Agents / Brokers

Expand
Q73 0/100

How strongly does the government control the company’s use of agents and intermediaries in the procurement cycle?

View Question
Policies Score: 0 / 100
The government imposes no restrictions on the use of agents and intermediaries, nor has it committed to doing so in any explicit or substantial…
Explore
Enforcement Score: NA / 100
The recently adopted government proposition to strengthen the legal sanctions against companies [1] includes a series of law amendments that focus on improving the…
Explore

Financing Package

Expand
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?

View Question
Score: 0 / 100
For imported materiel and procurements administred by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration Agency (FMV), information regarding the post-award stage – including total value, financial…
Explore

Seller Influence

Expand
Q75 NS/100

How common is it for defence acquisition decisions to be based on political influence by selling nations?

View Question
Prevalence: selling nations Score: NS / 100
This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. This question depends on how we define ‘political influence’. When the government decided to…
Explore
Justification Score: NS / 100
This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. As noted in Q58, Q61, Q74 as well as in previous iterations of the…
Explore
Prevalence: domestic pressures Score: NS / 100
This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. It seems like no acquisitions during the studied time period have been granted as…
Explore