Sweden's Östersund Hospital Is Planning Its Next Decade And a Stockholm Architecture Firm Just Won the Job of Mapping It

Standfirst:

Region Jämtland Härjedalen, the regional health authority for Sweden's Jämtland county, has awarded a framework worth up to SEK 18 million to Carlstedt Arkitekter for continued strategic property planning at Östersund Hospital. The contract picks up work that began in an earlier project, and beat out two well-known Swedish architecture and engineering firms to win it.

Hospitals rarely get rebuilt all at once. Instead, regional health authorities plan years, sometimes decades, ahead, mapping out which buildings need replacing, which departments need more space, and in what order the work should happen. Region Jämtland Härjedalen has been doing exactly that kind of long-range thinking for Östersund Hospital, and it has just picked the firm that will carry that planning work into its next phase.

Why This Contract Matters

This is not a construction contract. It is a planning and analysis contract, the kind of work that happens well before any building work begins, but that ultimately shapes how, where and when a hospital campus gets rebuilt or expanded. The notice describes the assignment as a continuation of an already-started project: the appointed firm takes over ongoing work on a strategic property analysis intended to produce a full property development plan for the region's healthcare buildings, with Östersund Hospital specifically named as the focus of the next phase.

That continuation detail matters. Rather than starting from scratch, Carlstedt Arkitekter is stepping into work already under way, tasked with finishing preliminary studies and then moving into what the region calls "programme work" - the stage where a hospital's future needs get translated into concrete building and space requirements ahead of any formal design or construction phase.

Contract Timeline

• 9 December 2025 – Winner selected and contract concluded (this result notice was published considerably later, in mid-July 2026).
• 1 December 2025 – Framework agreement's stated start date.
• 30 November 2027 – Initial framework term ends, with the region holding the right to extend unilaterally in one-year increments, up to two years.
• 10 July 2026 – Result notice dispatched to the EU Publications Office.
• 14 July 2026 – Notice published in OJ S issue 133/2026.

Contract Overview

Region Jämtland Härjedalen ran an open procedure under the EU's general procurement directive for a framework agreement covering strategic property development consultancy, focused specifically on continuing planning work for Östersund Hospital. Three tenders were received: from Carlstedt Arkitekter, the eventual winner, and from two other well-established Swedish firms, SWECO Sverige and Rundquist arkitekter.

The framework was structured without reopening of competition, meaning Carlstedt Arkitekter now holds the assignment directly for the framework's duration rather than competing again for individual pieces of work. The estimated value at tender stage was SEK 12 million, though the maximum value confirmed in this result notice, accounting for the region's right to extend the agreement by up to two additional years, rises to SEK 18 million.

Key Contract Details

• Contracting authority: Region Jämtland Härjedalen, Sweden
• Contract title: Ramavtal strategisk fastighetsutveckling (Framework agreement for strategic property development)
• CPV classification: 71240000 – Architectural, engineering and planning services; additional classification 71320000 – Engineering design services
• Procedure type: Open procedure, non-accelerated
• Legal basis: Directive 2014/24/EU
• Framework type: Framework agreement without reopening of competition
• Estimated value at tender stage: SEK 12,000,000 (excluding VAT)
• Maximum framework value (including possible extensions): SEK 18,000,000
• Contract term: 1 December 2025 to 30 November 2027, with the region able to extend unilaterally in one-year increments for up to two additional years
• Award criteria: Quality-based, split across three named sub-criteria: planning (6 points), communication (4 points), and relevant work experience and practical knowledge (10 points), with the highest-scoring bidder receiving a SEK 660 deduction applied to their offered hourly rate for a specific pricing category
• Number of tenders received: 3
• Winning tenderer: Carlstedt Arkitekter Aktiebolag
• Date winner selected / contract concluded: 9 December 2025
• Subcontracting: Not yet known
• GPA coverage: Yes
• EU funding: Not financed with EU funds
• Place of performance: Jämtland County, Sweden

Project Scope

The assignment covers continued strategic property analysis intended to produce a comprehensive property development plan for Region Jämtland Härjedalen's healthcare buildings, with the immediate focus on Östersund Hospital's own development plan. The work is meant to generate analyses and supporting material that help the hospital's various stakeholders make ongoing decisions throughout the planning process, rather than producing a single, static report.

The next stage specifically involves completing preliminary studies, known as förstudier, and then progressing into programme work, or programarbete - the phase in Swedish public building projects where a facility's functional and spatial requirements are formally defined ahead of detailed design. In effect, Carlstedt Arkitekter is now responsible for turning years of hospital planning discussion into the structured technical groundwork that any future construction or renovation project at Östersund Hospital would need to build on.

The award criteria are worth a closer look. Alongside standard quality measures for planning approach, communication, and relevant experience, the region built in an unusual pricing mechanism: the bidder scoring highest on quality receives a fixed SEK 660 deduction from their quoted hourly rate for a specific pricing category, effectively rewarding top-quality bids with a built-in price advantage rather than scoring quality and price on entirely separate scales.

About the Contracting Authority

Region Jämtland Härjedalen is the regional public authority responsible for healthcare and related public services across Jämtland County in northern Sweden, home to Östersund and the surrounding area. Classified in the notice as a regional authority operating in the health sector, the region ran this tender directly and remains the point of contact for procurement enquiries.

About the Organisations Involved

Region Jämtland Härjedalen - Buyer

The region designed and ran the open procedure, evaluated the three tenders received on the quality criteria described in the notice, and now holds the resulting framework agreement directly with Carlstedt Arkitekter. It is also named as the organisation providing further information about the procurement procedure.

Carlstedt Arkitekter Aktiebolag - Winning Tenderer

Carlstedt Arkitekter, based in Stockholm, is the sole winner of this framework. Classified in the notice as a large economic operator, the firm is also flagged as listed on a regulated market, meaning its shares are publicly traded. Subcontracting arrangements for this assignment were not yet known at the time of the notice.

SWECO Sverige AB - Non-Winning Tenderer

SWECO Sverige, based in Stockholm, is one of Sweden's largest engineering and architecture consultancies and submitted one of the two unsuccessful tenders for this framework.

Rundquist arkitekter AB - Non-Winning Tenderer

Rundquist arkitekter, also based in Stockholm, submitted the other unsuccessful tender for this framework.

Förvaltningsrätten i Härnösand - Review Authority

The Administrative Court of Härnösand is the body designated to hear any legal challenge to this procurement, and is also named as the source of further information on review procedures.

Procurement Analysis

Region Jämtland Härjedalen used an open procedure, allowing any qualified firm to bid without a pre-qualification stage, and drew genuine competition from three credible Swedish architecture and engineering firms, including SWECO, one of the country's largest consultancies. That Carlstedt Arkitekter won against that level of competition is a meaningful result for a firm of its scale.

The framework's structure, without reopening of competition, means the region committed to a single supplier relationship for the life of the agreement, rather than preserving ongoing competitive tension through repeated mini-competitions. Combined with the quality-weighted, experience-heavy evaluation criteria, this suggests the region prioritised continuity and demonstrated expertise, likely reflecting the fact that this work continues an already-established planning project rather than starting fresh.

The pricing mechanism tied to quality scoring - a fixed monetary deduction from the hourly rate for the top-quality bidder - is a distinctive feature of Swedish public procurement practice, blending quality and price evaluation into a single mechanism rather than treating them as fully separate scored categories. It effectively means the best-scoring bidder on quality also receives a built-in pricing advantage, reinforcing quality as the primary differentiator in the competition.

One further detail worth noting: this result notice was published roughly seven months after the contract itself was concluded in December 2025, a gap that is not unusual in EU procurement reporting but is worth flagging for anyone tracking the timeline of when public information about a contract actually becomes available.

Additional Procurement Facts

• The procurement is confirmed as GPA-covered.
• The project is not financed with EU funds.
• No dynamic purchasing system was used.
• No strategic procurement objectives, such as sustainability or social-value targets, were declared for this tender.
• All three tenders were submitted through the Swedish e-procurement platform e-Avrop.

Market & Industry Perspective

Strategic property planning for hospitals is a specialised segment of the Swedish architecture and engineering market, sitting upstream of the larger, more visible construction contracts that eventually follow. Winning this kind of framework positions a firm to influence how a major regional hospital's future building programme takes shape, well before any formal design competition or construction tender is issued.

That Carlstedt Arkitekter secured this assignment over SWECO, a much larger national consultancy, suggests that specific track record and continuity with the hospital's existing planning process outweighed sheer scale in the region's evaluation, a pattern seen elsewhere in specialised Swedish public-sector consultancy tenders.

Economic Significance

At a maximum value of SEK 18 million, this framework is modest in isolation, but it carries outsized strategic significance: property development planning of this kind lays the groundwork for what could eventually become a far larger construction programme at Östersund Hospital. For Carlstedt Arkitekter, securing this continuation work also strengthens its position to be involved in whatever formal design or construction procurement follows once the region's development plan is finalised.

Future Procurement Opportunities

Once the preliminary studies and programme work under this framework are complete, Östersund Hospital's development plan is likely to generate further, larger procurement activity: architectural design competitions, engineering contracts, and eventually construction tenders tied to whatever building projects the plan identifies as priorities. Firms with hospital design and healthcare construction expertise should watch for these follow-on opportunities as the planning work concludes.

Other Swedish regional health authorities facing similar ageing hospital infrastructure are likely to run comparable strategic property planning tenders in the coming years, following a similar pattern of early-stage analysis work preceding larger capital projects.

Opportunities for Suppliers

• Architecture and engineering firms with hospital and healthcare facility expertise should track Östersund Hospital's development plan as it progresses, since it is likely to generate substantially larger follow-on procurement.
• Firms not selected in this round, including SWECO and Rundquist arkitekter, may find opportunities in subsequent phases of the hospital's development programme once this planning work concludes.
• Suppliers should monitor other Swedish regional health authorities for similar strategic property development tenders, particularly those with ageing hospital infrastructure requiring long-range planning.

What Businesses Should Watch

Watch for the completion of the preliminary studies and programme work under this framework, since that will likely determine the scope and timing of Östersund Hospital's next, larger construction-related procurement phase. Watch also whether Region Jämtland Härjedalen exercises its option to extend this framework beyond its initial two-year term, which would signal the planning phase is taking longer than originally anticipated.

SwedenTenders.com Procurement Intelligence

This award is a useful reminder that the real competitive battles in major public infrastructure programmes often happen years before construction contracts are ever issued. Strategic property planning frameworks like this one determine which firms get to shape a hospital's future building programme from the earliest stages, and winning this kind of early-phase work can meaningfully strengthen a firm's position for the larger contracts that follow.

The quality-linked pricing mechanism used here - converting top quality scores into a direct hourly-rate discount - is also worth watching as a procurement design choice. It reflects a Swedish public-sector preference for blending price and quality evaluation into a single, quality-weighted mechanism rather than scoring them in isolation, an approach that may appeal to other regional authorities seeking to prioritise expertise without abandoning price discipline entirely.

Expect Swedish regional health authorities to continue running early-stage strategic planning tenders well ahead of major hospital construction programmes, and expect firms that win this upstream planning work to be well positioned, though not guaranteed, to compete for the larger design and construction contracts that eventually follow.

Supplier Takeaways

• Track Östersund Hospital's development plan closely, since this planning framework is likely to shape a much larger construction programme in the years ahead.
• Recognise that early-stage planning and analysis contracts, though modest in value, can meaningfully influence which firms are best positioned for later, larger procurement phases.
• Study Swedish quality-linked pricing mechanisms, such as the one used here, when preparing bids for similar regional authority tenders.
• Monitor other Swedish regional health authorities for comparable strategic property planning tenders tied to ageing hospital infrastructure.

Key Takeaways

• Region Jämtland Härjedalen awarded a framework worth up to SEK 18 million to Carlstedt Arkitekter for continued strategic property planning at Östersund Hospital.
• Carlstedt Arkitekter won against competition from SWECO Sverige and Rundquist arkitekter.
• The framework continues work from an earlier project, focused on completing preliminary studies and moving into programme work.
• Award criteria combined quality scoring with a pricing mechanism that rewards the top-quality bidder with a fixed hourly-rate deduction.
• Any legal challenge would be heard by Förvaltningsrätten i Härnösand.

Conclusion

Long before any construction crew arrives at Östersund Hospital, the groundwork for its future is being laid through contracts like this one. Carlstedt Arkitekter has won the job of turning years of planning discussion into the structured analysis that will guide the hospital's next chapter, beating out larger, well-known rivals in the process. For a region planning its healthcare infrastructure years ahead, this framework is an early but consequential step in a much longer story.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who awarded this contract?
Region Jämtland Härjedalen, the regional health authority for Jämtland County, Sweden.

Who won the contract?
Carlstedt Arkitekter Aktiebolag, a Stockholm-based architecture firm.

What is the contract worth?
The estimated value at tender stage was SEK 12 million, with a maximum framework value, including possible extensions, of SEK 18 million.

What does the contract cover?
Continued strategic property development planning for Region Jämtland Härjedalen's healthcare buildings, focused on Östersund Hospital's development plan, including completing preliminary studies and moving into programme work.

How many companies bid for this contract?
Three tenders were received, from Carlstedt Arkitekter, SWECO Sverige, and Rundquist arkitekter.

How were bids evaluated?
On quality criteria covering planning, communication, and relevant work experience, with the highest-scoring bidder also receiving a fixed deduction from their quoted hourly rate.

Is this contract funded by the European Union?
No. The notice confirms it is not financed with EU funds.

Where can a legal challenge to this award be filed?
Any challenge would go to Förvaltningsrätten i Härnösand, the Administrative Court of Härnösand.

Source: EU Official Journal, Contract Award Notice 484062-2026, OJ S 133/2026, published 14 July 2026. Contracting authority: Region Jämtland Härjedalen.