Earlier this year, SVT News and Assignment Review showed that MSB made exaggerated claims about how many helicopters are guaranteed in the agreement signed with the helicopter company Heliair. MSB described it as 30 but in fact it was 10.

At the same time, Helair had stated in its tender that together with subcontractors, a total of 31 helicopters were available. And MSB also saw a need to be able to order more than 10 helicopters.

In two letters to the government, and e-mails to SVT, MSB has described what happened then:

“After being in contact with HeliAir on May 29 and requesting clarification, the CEO guarantees that he has access to 26 + 5 helicopters through his subcontractors, but that the set time and price picture are not the same as the 10 helicopters included. in the agreement ”states a PM to the Ministry of Justice.

New conditions

MSB could thus order more helicopters, but the price could be higher than in the agreement, and the helicopters could take longer to arrive at a possible forest fire.

But that arrangement is contrary to the law, according to several experts SVT spoke with.

- It is simply not legal to do that way, says Andrea Sundstrand, associate professor of public law with a special focus on public procurement.

She and other procurement experts are clear: Either the same price should apply to all helicopters that MSB wants to use, or you have to do a new procurement. The terms cannot be changed after the agreement has been signed.

- You have agreed on something and then it turns out that you have agreed on something else. It's not good. That's not what you should do, says Henrik Norinder, assistant professor at the Faculty of Law in Lund.

MSB first defends the scheme in an email response to SVT, but after SVT requested an interview and told that the experts describe the solution as illegal, the authority turns and gives a new message: All helicopters must be subject to the same prices and conditions. Submitting another proposal to the government and defending it for SVT is described as a "communication failure".