HELSINKI - Sweden's Land Forces could face a delay of more than 12 months in the delivery of its next-generation armored all-terrain wheeled vehicles following a ruling by the Stockholm Administrative County Court (SACC) ordering Försvarets Materielverk (FMV), the Swedish defense materials procurement agency, to organize a new tendering process.
The court's judgment upheld a complaint filed in July by BAE Systems Hägglunds, which challenged the openness and fairness of the tender process managed by FMV. The complaint was lodged after FMV awarded a $338 million contract to Finnish defense company Patria, on June 25, covering the delivery of 113 Patria AMVs. These were scheduled to be delivered between 2011 and 2013.
BAE Systems Hägglunds had offered the Spitterskyddad Enhets Platform (SEP) modular armored tactical vehicle to Sweden. The now mothballed SEP project was originally backed by the Swedish government, which discontinued funding in September. The government and BAE had invested $192 million into SEP since 2005, with the Swedish state's share totaling $128 million.
The ruling by the SACC found the tendering process to lack "a general transparency and equal treatment" for BAE Systems Hägglund. "The only way the deficiencies can be corrected is to redo the procurement process," the court directed.
The SACC found that the tendering process run by FMV breached Sweden's Public Procurement Act on four main points. These included FMV using an unreasonably short tender period; making a prohibited substantial change in the tender specifications; issuing obscure specifications; and providing unclear information to bidders.
The court ruled that FMV also made a significant change in the request for quotation within the tender time that called the issue of "equal treatment" into question.
"FMV will analyze the judgment very thoroughly before deciding whether we should appeal," said Anders Sjöborg, FMV's head of Legal Affairs.
BAE Systems Hägglund's welcomed the court ruling.
"Obviously, it's a very positive development from our perspective. Now we need to see the full documentation before we make a final decision on competing in a new procurement process," a company spokesman said.
Patria said it was disappointed by the Swedish court's decision but said that the company intends to participate in a new tender, said Seppo Seppala, the head of Patria's Land and Armaments Division.
The now-overturned order covered wheeled armored personnel carriers in five different versions, and it came with the option for delivery of an additional 113 vehicle systems.
The Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program is ready to test a few components that soldiers may have in their hands by 2010.
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