Para finns - Upphandlarens möjlighet och ansvar att hålla kriminella entreprenörer utanför den offentliga marknaden
(2024) JURM02 20241Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- Every year, 900 billion SEK is spent on public procurement contracts. Un-fortunately, it is not only serious suppliers which try to win these contracts. In recent years, attention has been drawn to criminal entrepreneurs who compete on the public market. The problem has been described as a threat to the system.
Procuring organizations have been described as central to preventing crim-inal entrepreneurs access to the public market. A supplier can be excluded from the procurement process due to a ground of exclusions. An exclusion can be ruled due to mandatory or facultative grounds. The mandatory grounds for exclusion can at first sight give the impression of being direct and user-friendly, however they have been described as unclear... (More) - Every year, 900 billion SEK is spent on public procurement contracts. Un-fortunately, it is not only serious suppliers which try to win these contracts. In recent years, attention has been drawn to criminal entrepreneurs who compete on the public market. The problem has been described as a threat to the system.
Procuring organizations have been described as central to preventing crim-inal entrepreneurs access to the public market. A supplier can be excluded from the procurement process due to a ground of exclusions. An exclusion can be ruled due to mandatory or facultative grounds. The mandatory grounds for exclusion can at first sight give the impression of being direct and user-friendly, however they have been described as unclear and diffi-cult to apply. Only a small percentage of procuring entities have ever used these rules to exclude a supplier.
This essay has a twofold focus. Its theoretical starting point is in criminal law and economic crime. With companies being used as a tool for crimi-nals, the line between organized crime and economic crime has blurred. A company opens the doors to new markets and new criminal schemes, in-cluding access to the public market. In order to hide their crimes and act anonymously, it is common to register another person as the directors of the company, so-called goalkeepers.
With this premises, the public procurement regulation on exclusion is re-viewed using the legal dogmatic method. Particular attention is given to the fact that the procuring organization has an obligation to examine the sup-plier during the tender evaluation process. However, this examination is currently difficult to carry out effectively. Furthermore, the essay investi-gates the meaning of each mandatory exclusion ground, and the correlating Swedish penal provision is listed.
The essay identifies three main reasons that cause the difficulty of using the mandatory exclusion clause. Firstly, it is currently difficult for a procurer to carry out a correct and effective control of the supplier. The procurer is limited to public records and the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD). Secondly, the use of goalkeepers registered as directors makes it difficult for the procurer to verify who truly runs the company. Thirdly, the provision on the mandatory grounds of exclusion is written too vaguely with references to both EU and national law. This year, Leverantör-kontrollsutredningen (SOU 2023:43) presented a thorough legal investiga-tion into which Swedish criminal law provisions should form the basis for mandatory exclusion. Prior to this, there was no corresponding information in the Swedish legal system. The provisions of the Public Procurement Act are intended to prevent welfare crimes and corruption, but in their current form they are not sufficiently clear to be used effectively. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Varje år omsätts 900 miljarder kronor i offentliga upphandlingar i Sverige. Dessvärre är det inte endast seriösa leverantörer som försöker vinna dessa kontrakt. På senare år har man i allt större utsträckning uppmärksammat att oseriösa och kriminella entreprenörer också konkurrerar på den offentliga marknaden. Problemet har beskrivits som systemhotande.
Upphandlande myndigheter har beskrivits som centrala för att förhindra kriminella entreprenörers tillgång till den offentliga marknaden. Under anbudsprövningen kan en leverantör uteslutas om upphandlaren genom kontroll upptäcker oegentligheter. Det finns både obligatoriska och fakulta-tiva uteslutningsgrunder. De obligatoriska uteslutningsgrunderna kan vid första anblick ge intrycket av... (More) - Varje år omsätts 900 miljarder kronor i offentliga upphandlingar i Sverige. Dessvärre är det inte endast seriösa leverantörer som försöker vinna dessa kontrakt. På senare år har man i allt större utsträckning uppmärksammat att oseriösa och kriminella entreprenörer också konkurrerar på den offentliga marknaden. Problemet har beskrivits som systemhotande.
Upphandlande myndigheter har beskrivits som centrala för att förhindra kriminella entreprenörers tillgång till den offentliga marknaden. Under anbudsprövningen kan en leverantör uteslutas om upphandlaren genom kontroll upptäcker oegentligheter. Det finns både obligatoriska och fakulta-tiva uteslutningsgrunder. De obligatoriska uteslutningsgrunderna kan vid första anblick ge intrycket av att vara tydliga och användarvänliga, men de har dessvärre beskrivits som oklara och svårtillämpliga. Endast en liten andel upphandlare har någon gång uteslutit en leverantör med hänvisning till dessa bestämmelser.
Uppsatsen har ett tudelat fokus. Dess teoretiska utgångspunkt är i straffrät-ten och den ekonomiska brottsligheten. I en tid då företaget är ett essenti-ellt brottsverktyg för kriminella suddas gränserna mellan organiserad brottslighet och ekonomisk brottslighet ut. Företaget öppnar upp dörrar för nya marknader och nya brottsupplägg, däribland tillgång till den offentliga marknaden. För att dölja sina brott och verka anonymt är det vanligt att den verkliga huvudmannen registrerar en annan person i Bolagsverkets register, så kallade målvakter eller bulvaner.
Utifrån dessa utgångspunkter granskas de offentligrättsliga upphandlings-bestämmelserna om uteslutning med hjälp av rättsdogmatisk metod. Det uppmärksammas särskilt att upphandlaren har en skyldighet att kontrollera leverantörerna under anbudsprövningen, men att denna kontroll i dagsläget är svår att genomföra på ett effektivt sätt. Vidare granskas varje obligato-risk uteslutningsgrunds innebörd och korrelerande svenska straffbestäm-melser listas.
I uppsatsen har huvudsakligen tre orsaker identifierats som förorsakar svå-righeten att använda sig av bestämmelsen om obligatorisk uteslutning. För det första är det i dagsläget svårt för en upphandlare att utföra en korrekt och effektiv kontroll av leverantören. Upphandlaren är begränsad till att endast söka i offentliga register och att begära in en sanningsförsäkran av leverantören var denna lovar att grund för uteslutning inte föreligger. För det andra utgör användandet av målvakter och bulvaner i bolagsregistret en försvårande omständighet för upphandlaren att granska den verkliga hu-vudmannen för företaget. För det tredje är bestämmelsen om de obligato-riska uteslutningsgrundera alltför otydligt författad med hänvisningar till såväl EU:s rättsakter som nationell rätt. Häromåret presenterade leverantör-skontrollutredningen (SOU 2023:43) en gedigen rättsutredning avseende vilka svenska straffrättsliga bestämmelser som bör ligga till grund för obli-gatorisk uteslutning. Dessförinnan saknades motsvarande information i den svenska rättsordningen. Bestämmelserna i lagen om offentlig upphandling är ämnade att förhindra välfärdsbrott och korruption, men är i nuvarande form inte tillräckligt tydliga för att användas på ett effektivt sätt. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9153486
- author
- Olsson, Pauline LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Money talks - The procurer's opportunity and responsibility to keep criminal contractors out of the public market
- course
- JURM02 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Straffrätt, Criminal law, Ekonomisk brottslighet, White-collar crime, Offentlig upphandling, Public procurement
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9153486
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-19 09:27:03
- date last changed
- 2024-06-19 09:27:03
@misc{9153486,
abstract = {{Every year, 900 billion SEK is spent on public procurement contracts. Un-fortunately, it is not only serious suppliers which try to win these contracts. In recent years, attention has been drawn to criminal entrepreneurs who compete on the public market. The problem has been described as a threat to the system.
Procuring organizations have been described as central to preventing crim-inal entrepreneurs access to the public market. A supplier can be excluded from the procurement process due to a ground of exclusions. An exclusion can be ruled due to mandatory or facultative grounds. The mandatory grounds for exclusion can at first sight give the impression of being direct and user-friendly, however they have been described as unclear and diffi-cult to apply. Only a small percentage of procuring entities have ever used these rules to exclude a supplier.
This essay has a twofold focus. Its theoretical starting point is in criminal law and economic crime. With companies being used as a tool for crimi-nals, the line between organized crime and economic crime has blurred. A company opens the doors to new markets and new criminal schemes, in-cluding access to the public market. In order to hide their crimes and act anonymously, it is common to register another person as the directors of the company, so-called goalkeepers.
With this premises, the public procurement regulation on exclusion is re-viewed using the legal dogmatic method. Particular attention is given to the fact that the procuring organization has an obligation to examine the sup-plier during the tender evaluation process. However, this examination is currently difficult to carry out effectively. Furthermore, the essay investi-gates the meaning of each mandatory exclusion ground, and the correlating Swedish penal provision is listed.
The essay identifies three main reasons that cause the difficulty of using the mandatory exclusion clause. Firstly, it is currently difficult for a procurer to carry out a correct and effective control of the supplier. The procurer is limited to public records and the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD). Secondly, the use of goalkeepers registered as directors makes it difficult for the procurer to verify who truly runs the company. Thirdly, the provision on the mandatory grounds of exclusion is written too vaguely with references to both EU and national law. This year, Leverantör-kontrollsutredningen (SOU 2023:43) presented a thorough legal investiga-tion into which Swedish criminal law provisions should form the basis for mandatory exclusion. Prior to this, there was no corresponding information in the Swedish legal system. The provisions of the Public Procurement Act are intended to prevent welfare crimes and corruption, but in their current form they are not sufficiently clear to be used effectively.}},
author = {{Olsson, Pauline}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Para finns - Upphandlarens möjlighet och ansvar att hålla kriminella entreprenörer utanför den offentliga marknaden}},
year = {{2024}},
}