The Swedish National Audit Office has conducted two audits of the Swedish Armed Forces, focusing on resource management, logistics, and medical care. The audits reveal that there are shortcomings that must be addressed if defense capabilities are to develop as planned.
The audit ”Think Slowly, Act Quickly – The Swedish Armed Forces’ Resource Management”focuses on the Swedish Armed Forces’ processes for allocating resources to its various components. It shows that this allocation does not, to a sufficient extent, lead to clear and comparable prioritization decisions when resources are insufficient. Instead of resolving conflicting objectives early in the command chain, they are passed on and addressed only during implementation. The priorities that must then be set are thus not based on deliberate and documented choices but are rather an adaptation of operations to what is feasible at that particular moment.”.
“This risks causing delays and reduced efficiency. It also means that, in hindsight, it will be difficult to understand what alternatives were available, what choices were made, and what the consequences were,” says National Auditor Christina Gellerbrant Hagberg.
The National Audit Office notes that objectives, outputs, and costs are not integrated into a single analysis, and that there is a significant lack of data showing what various activities actually cost in relation to the results achieved. This limits the ability to assess productivity and cost-effectiveness. When costs are not related to specific outputs or outcomes, it becomes difficult to determine which parts of the operations use resources most effectively and to compare alternative courses of action.
“Over time, this can lead to significant discrepancies between what is planned and what can actually be implemented,” says Marcus Pettersson, project manager for the audit.
Material shortages and long lead times
The audit ”Logistics and Healthcare for the Military – The Government’s Efforts to Ensure Accessibility and Sustainability in Military Operations”shows that the Swedish Armed Forces have had difficulty organizing, planning, and scaling their efforts in this area. This has had a negative impact on developments in logistics and medical care. Shortcomings in material and personnel resources, long lead times, and inefficient work methods have resulted in slow progress in improving the availability and sustainability of combat units. The audit also shows, among other things, that logistics and medical care are not practiced to a sufficient extent and lack realism, and that the infrastructure is a bottleneck in logistics and medical care operations.
Clearer Prioritization
The National Audit Office assesses that, for the most part, the government has provided the Armed Forces with the necessary conditions to plan and scale their logistics and medical care, but has not been sufficiently clear regarding priorities.
“The government needs to tell the Armed Forces which geographic areas and societal functions require special protection in the event of an armed attack,” says Sascha Sohlman, project manager for the review.
The National Audit Office recommends that the government establish priorities regarding geographic areas, societal sectors, and other strategically important decisions within the framework of operational planning and host nation support. The Swedish Armed Forces are recommended, among other things, to:
- Clarify how to set priorities when goals, missions, and resources cannot all be accommodated at the same time.
- Develop key decision-making documents so that alternative courses of action and their consequences can be compared
- Strengthen the link between monitoring and decision-making
- Clarify the division of responsibilities within the framework of host nation support
- Ensure adequate IT support.
