Patria contract to provide Sweden with more than 100 armoured personnel carriers cancelled by Stockholm court

Swedish public procurement law was not followed when issuing contract, court rules

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Finnish state-controlled arms manufacturer Patria’s substantial deal to provide the Swedish Defence Forces with armoured modular vehicles (AMVs) has been annulled.
      According to the Stockholm County Administrative Court’s Thursday ruling, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration’s (FMV) decision to award Patria the contract to provide the Swedish land forces with more than a hundred Patria AMV 8x8 units has to be cancelled.
      The vehicles were meant for a military detachment due to commence operation in 2014. The value of the transaction is EUR 240 million. According to the court decision, the public procurement proceedings have to be relaunched.
      “FMV failed to comply with the Swedish public procurement law”, explains Seppo Seppälä, President of Patria Land & Armament.
      A complaint before the court was filed by Hägglunds, a Swedish subsidiary of the British-American BAE Systems.
     
FMV’s decision from the summer resulted in a political furore in Sweden.
      The Swedish Social Democrats, in particular, entered the fray on behalf of local jobs. Immediately after FMV had announced its decision to award the deal to Patria, Hägglund issued a dismissal warning involving 320 of its employees. The company has around a thousand workers in Sweden.
     
Patria announced on Thursday that it respects the court’s decision. According to Seppälä, Patria is confident that it will win the contract also in the possible new bidding contest.
      “If we are successful, the vehicles will be manufactured in Hämeenlinna”, Seppälä says.
      It is also possible that FMV will file an appeal against the court’s ruling.
      Patria is a defence and aerospace group, owned by the State of Finland (73.2%) and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS N.V. (26.8%).
      Patria employs around 3,500 personnel.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Patria CEO resigns amid ongoing NBI probes into bribery allegations (19.8.2008)
  Finland´s central criminal police to investigate Patria deals in Slovenia and Egypt (15.5.2008)
  Adviser accuses Patria of questionable selling tactics (1.3.2007)

See also:
  Finnish police question Slovenian ex-PM on Patria bribery scandal (16.10.2009)
  Patria suspends manufacture of vehicles ordered by Slovenia (3.9.2009)

Links:
  Patria AMV (Wikipedia)
  Patria
  FMV

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