Local authorities enlist external investigators to tackle irregularities
A municipality is procuring independent investigation and audit support to address ambiguities and suspected irregularities, signalling shift to outside oversight.
A municipality is procuring independent investigation and audit support to address ambiguities and suspected irregularities, signalling shift to outside oversight.
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In November 2025, Upphandlingscenter Falun Borlänge-regionen launched a contract notice on behalf of Borlänge Municipality for External Investigation Services. The buyer wants independent specialists to examine ambiguous situations, test suspected irregularities, and provide assessments at arm’s length from day-to-day operations.
The notice is concise: Borlänge seeks external resources for investigations or audits when there are ambiguities, suspected irregularities, or a need for an independent assessment. It is a clear statement of intent to bolster impartial scrutiny across municipal activity.
Beyond those aims, the published information does not set out volumes, duration, contract structure, or subject-matter boundaries. That means the practical scope—how often external teams will be engaged, and on what types of cases—will become clear only once the full documentation and award details are available. What is evident is the priority placed on independence and the ability to respond when sensitive questions arise.
Commissioning outside expertise is a straightforward way to strengthen assurance around sensitive matters. The case for doing so rests on three points that the notice itself underlines:
For a municipality, this approach offers flexibility. It allows leaders to match resources to the sensitivity of the issue, and to demonstrate that potential conflicts are being managed when facts must be established quickly and fairly.
The Borlänge notice sits within a steady run of municipal procurements for audit and investigative capacity across Sweden, and even into neighbouring Norway.
In June 2022, Bjuv established a framework for auditing services so that its audit assignment could be carried out to plan. The emphasis there was on ensuring the local audit function had the expert support it needed over time.
By September 2023, Svenljunga was seeking expert assistance for its elected auditors and lay auditors covering municipal companies, with scope to review boards, committees and preparations, through its audit services procurement.
In April 2024, Botkyrka procured audit services to provide expert assistance to elected auditors in line with the Local Government Act, reinforcing that the statutory audit role often relies on external, qualified support.
In May 2024, Kramfors focused on audit quality and budget management in a procurement for auditor services that combined municipal and financial audit support.
In January 2025, Örebro sought expert support for the City Audit and related tasks across the municipality and its companies, again underlining that elected auditors often need specialist help to deliver their remit.
In May 2025, Nyköping went to market for municipal audit assistance to support elected auditors with various audits, including interim and annual accounting reports, with adherence to municipal auditing standards.
The shift is not limited to municipalities. In March 2025, the regional mutual insurance company Löf sought internal audit services for ongoing reviews, analyses and management recommendations, showing how demand for independent assurance runs across public-sector entities.
And beyond Sweden, in March 2024, Bergen municipality in Norway procured auditor services for management audits, ownership control and related assignments in line with its Municipality Act. This mirrors the Scandinavian focus on combining statutory oversight with targeted, management-level scrutiny.
Taken together, these notices show a consistent pattern: elected auditors and municipal leaders are buying in expertise to strengthen assurance over boards, committees, companies and financial reporting. Borlänge’s step adds the explicit option to commission investigations when irregularities are suspected or facts are disputed.
Because the Borlänge notice is brief, several practical elements remain to be seen. They will shape how the market responds and how the municipality uses the service in practice:
These details matter. Other municipalities have anchored their procurements in support to elected auditors and statutory duties. Borlänge’s inclusion of investigations points to a broader toolkit, but the documentation will need to show how independence and thoroughness will be maintained across different types of assignments.
The push to secure external investigative and audit capacity aligns with a wider concern for transparency, value for money and public trust. Several procurements over the last three years explicitly seek to reinforce audit quality under budget constraints or to provide expert assistance across complex municipal group structures. The language is consistent: elected auditors want access to specialists, and administrations want assurance that sensitive reviews are handled impartially.
Borlänge’s move is therefore not an outlier. It follows a pattern in which local government sets up mechanisms that can be activated when issues arise, from accounting questions to governance reviews and, now, investigations into suspected irregularities. Given the range of recent notices across Sweden and in Norway, suppliers with investigative and audit expertise should recognise a coherent market developing across the Nordic public sector.
The notice confirms that Borlänge is building capacity to respond to suspected irregularities and ambiguous situations with independent scrutiny. The published information is light on specifics, so the next milestones will be the detailed specification and, later, the award. Based on recent Swedish procurements for audit and expert assistance through 2024 and 2025, the demand for independent assurance looks set to continue. Watch for how the final documents define the split between investigations and audit support, and how independence is safeguarded across assignments.
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