Kiruna Municipality has cancelled a procurement process for a deputy municipal director valued at approximately 8 million Swedish kronor. The decision comes amid an ongoing external investigation into alleged conflicts of interest within the municipal administration.
According to reports from SVT Norrbotten and Norrländska Socialdemokraten, the two-year contract with an option for one-year extension was cost-estimated at 2.75 million kronor per year. The procurement process had reportedly been criticized for having an unusually short bidding period of just 15 days and for containing text copied from an old advertisement.
We listened to the concerns and decided that we should recruit a deputy municipal director through a regular recruitment process.
Municipal officials stated that the cancellation was necessary due to the ongoing investigation into alleged conflicts of interest, which they believe would affect both the recruitment process and the organization as a whole. The municipality plans to begin a new recruitment process shortly through regular hiring procedures rather than procurement.
Jenny Lindberg, Kiruna's acting municipal director, explained the decision: 'We listened to the concerns and decided that we should recruit a deputy municipal director through a regular recruitment process.' The need for additional leadership support arose after the previous municipal director ended their service in January, with high workload related to the city's transformation cited as a contributing factor.