Upphandling på försvarsområdet – En granskning av Försvarets materielverk som upphandlande myndighet

Sammanfattning: Public procurement in the sector of defence and security entails particular demands on both the legislation and the contracting authorities operating in the field. The legislation must be drafted in an appropriate way to give the contracting authorities the right tools to address the specific security requirements demanded. The contracting authorities must have the ability to translate the technical and security requirements of the object of procurement posed by the actors in the sector of defence and security into to such requirements as are compatible with the public procurement law. This paper examines both the legal drafting as well as procurements carried out by the largest contracting authority in the defence and security sector in Sweden – the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration. The conclusion of this essay is that the legislation appears to be well adapted to the various demands of the sector, with rules that allow a contracting authority to set high standards of security when conducting the procurement. However, there is some uncertainty as to when the law is to be applied; the scope of applicability of the legislation is limited in an appropriate way, but not as clearly defined, which can lead to problems in the “grey-area” cases. The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, however, appear to be less well suited to carry out the procurements of defence materiel in accordance with the requirements prescribed by law. The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration tends to violate the provisions of the law in a relatively high degree, often due to underlying political motives.