It is ground work at the travel center and Ahlatippen for a total of 8.6 million.

Initiated investigation last week

After the Swedish Competition Authority followed the media coverage of Laholm municipality's lack of procurement processes, an investigation was launched last week.

But the fact that the work has not been out for bidding for companies does not result in any scrutiny.

Malin de Jounge is Head of Unit at the Unit for Unauthorized Procurement at the Swedish Competition Authority. She explains that the decision is very much based on the fact that it is, in their world, old agreements.

Malin de Jounge Photo: Swedish Competition Authority

The effect does not outweigh the work effort

- It does not produce the same effect when we look at older cases. The expected effect in this case would not outweigh the work effort, she says.

The authority receives 500–600 tips a year, but only a fraction of the cases are examined. Cases that can result in high fines, statue examples, or for some other reason are considered interesting are usually prioritized.

Got fined three years ago

Three years ago, the municipality made an unauthorized direct procurement of an IT consultant for over SEK 1 million. That time went worse. The municipality was then sentenced to pay a tendering fee of SEK 80,000.