Key facts
The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (SFIE) is a public-law federal institution with its own legal personality. It assesses, issues and manages commercial property rights such as patents, trade marks and designs. It is funded mainly by receipts from fees for these property rights and is independent of the federal budget.
The SFIE organises itself and operates autonomously. This autonomy also extends to procurement. The Institute therefore bears sole responsibility for procurements but is subject to the Public Procurement Act. Its average procurement volume for 2023 and 2024 amounted to CHF 15 million. With over 170 procurement awards every year, the SFIE obtained services from various areas, including IT, consultancy or language services.
This was the first separate procurement audit conducted at the SFIE by the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO). Using ten selected case studies, the SFAO examined whether the SFIE’s procurements in 2023 and 2024 were legal and economical. The results show that the organisational and system prerequisites for successful procurement are essentially present. However, there is room for improvement as regards strategic management, efficiency gains in procurement processes and the implementation of awards: funds should be used more economically and potential reputational risks should be reduced.