The Public Transport Committee of Region Värmland has been fined 3.8 million kronor for engaging in an unlawful direct procurement of service traffic, as determined by the Swedish Competition Authority.

Following a series of legal challenges to a publicly announced procurement for services including medical transport and special transport, the committee opted to enter into an interim agreement without advertising the procurement, violating the Public Procurement Act (LOU).

The committee argued that the exception for urgent circumstances applied, claiming that entering the interim agreement was necessary to avoid a lack of service traffic and that the lengthy legal review processes were unforeseen. However, the Competition Authority found that there was sufficient time to conduct a proper advertised procurement.

The Authority stated that the unpredictability of the review processes and the committee's difficult situation were not adequate grounds for applying the exception to the advertising requirement.

The estimated value of the interim procurement was assessed at 248 million kronor. The Competition Authority noted that while the review processes had taken unusually long and complicated the procurement process, they decided on a lower penalty than typically imposed for illegal direct procurements of this magnitude.