SKR’s purchasing center Adda has framework agreements with companies in various sectors – including HVB – which the municipalities can call off from. In order to act as an intermediary, Adda charges a commission – a so-called administrative fee – of 1.5 percent on everything the companies invoice the municipalities for HVB. About a billion annually.
But now SVT can tell you that among the HVB companies that Adda offers to the municipalities, there are eleven companies that, according to the police, have links to organized crime.
On SKR’s website, the service is described as a way for the municipalities to raise the quality of HVB placements and states that Adda has worked hard to become “even more accurate in not letting in rogue actors”.
How the relevant companies were still able to sign agreements with Adda is unclear. According to SKR chairman Anders Henriksson (S), neither the municipalities, SKR nor Adda have had access to the police list – and therefore do not know which companies it applies to.
– Everyone needs to help each other to ensure that this criminal activity comes out of our HVB homes. Because it is unacceptable, he says.
How do you see the aspect that you also make money from those companies?
– Yes, it is not the idea that we should make money from criminal activities, but it must of course be stopped so that our agreements can withstand scrutiny. The agreements we sign must be with serious donors and companies.
Today, the service is used by approximately 190 municipalities, and in a survey that SVT has sent out, the majority state that they have a high level of trust in Adda’s checks on the companies.
Other municipalities, such as Huddinge, choose to procure HVB themselves.
– I can think that perhaps you shouldn’t be everywhere as a purchasing center, HVB home is not the most sensible, says the municipality’s head of procurement Roger Himmelsköld.
– Historically, purchasing centers have had their weight on the procurement of goods, while HVB in particular requires a different kind of control.
Record profit
Last year, Adda made a record profit, just over SEK 58 million. Most of the turnover comes from the private sector.
David Pålsson, docent who has researched the social care of children, believes that the SKR company’s structure is problematic.
– The risk with that is that then you might not be a completely impartial body. But you get part of the cake from these HVB homes, says David Pålsson.