dolls on strings

Procurement

From time to time, Swedfund needs to procure goods and services. Swedfund’s assessment is that the company is not subject to the Swedish Public Procurement Act (Lagen om offentlig upphandling, LOU). Nevertheless, Swedfund has chosen to apply a procurement policy that largely reflects the requirements set out in the Act.

For all procurement and purchases of goods and services, Swedfund applies the following principles:

  • Non-discrimination: Suppliers must under no circumstances be discriminated against solely on the basis of nationality or place of establishment. This means that Swedfund must not impose requirements that only Swedish suppliers are familiar with or are able to meet.

  • Equal treatment: Swedfund employees shall ensure that all qualified suppliers have the same opportunity to submit tenders and are evaluated on the same merits. All suppliers shall also receive the same information about the procurement requirements and the procurement process.

  • Proportionality: The requirements imposed in a procurement process shall be proportionate, appropriate and necessary in relation to the scope of the procurement.

  • Transparency: As far as possible, all information relating to the procurement shall be made available to suppliers. Swedfund employees shall ensure transparency throughout the procurement process and promptly inform consultants/service providers that were not selected, including the main reasons for the decision.

Swedfund’s procurement procedure is normally carried out as follows:

Needs assessment / Request for tenders

A needs assessment is carried out to determine Swedfund’s current business needs and estimate the value of the contract to be procured. Based on the estimated contract value, Swedfund determines whether the procurement should be conducted through direct procurement or a public procurement procedure.

When procuring goods and services, Swedfund applies two different procedures depending on the value of the planned procurement.

Direct procurement

In a direct procurement, Swedfund contacts a selection of suppliers considered relevant to the procurement in question. Swedfund always seeks to apply the fundamental procurement principles outlined above and ensures that the selection includes both established providers and smaller companies considered capable of meeting the requirements of the procurement.

Public procurement

Swedfund conducts procurements above the applicable threshold in accordance with the guidelines for public procurement set out below.

In a public procurement procedure, Swedfund publishes the procurement through its procurement platform and announces it in the EU database for public procurement. The procurement documents, including appendices, are made available through the procurement platform used by Swedfund (TendSign), enabling all suppliers wishing to participate in the procurement to submit a tender.

In all communication with tenderers, Swedfund shall seek to ensure equal treatment and transparency in accordance with the fundamental procurement principles. All tenderers shall also be given the same opportunity to supplement their tenders where necessary. In public procurement procedures, all information is communicated simultaneously to all tenderers to ensure that they participate on equal terms.

Evaluation / Contract award

Once the deadline for submitting tenders has passed, Swedfund opens the tenders received and evaluates them in accordance with the criteria specified for the procurement. Based on the evaluation, the CEO makes the contract award decision, and the other tenderers are informed of which supplier has been awarded the contract.

When evaluating tenders, Swedfund shall primarily apply the following principle:

The main criterion in all procurements is to identify the most economically advantageous tender based on the best price-quality ratio.

In addition, Swedfund shall consider the following criteria when evaluating tenderers:

  • Knowledge of the local markets in the countries where Swedfund operates.

  • Relevant previous experience and/or strong references from other clients.

  • The services offered shall be proportionate to Swedfund’s stated needs.

  • Where applicable, environmental sustainability shall be taken into consideration.

  • Timing, efficiency and availability of the supplier.

Once a contract award decision has been made, Swedfund communicates the decision to all tenderers. In a public procurement procedure, the supplier awarded the contract is announced, allowing other participants the opportunity to submit comments on the award.