About

A legal team made up of 12 professionals including six lawyers, the legal department working on behalf of the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (NDMA) operates with the following mantra according to the Agency’s most senior lawyer and general counsel Johan Woo Kvandal: ‘The quintessence of the legal team is to timely deliver high-quality legal advice to NDMA with an in-depth understanding of the underlying needs and the political environment. The purpose of the legal team is to provide the NDMA with high quality, well-founded legal advice with an commercial touch, in addition to handle legal disputes. Consequently, the legal team will also streamline the work of, and maximise the value, external law firms’. Supporting internal clients located in four different locations, Kvandal explains how the team is a strategic advisor for NDMA’s executive board and in close cooperation with both the Norwegian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence. A key task is supporting in legal matters relating to procuring and managing highly technical and high-value military material, where the lawyers often will work closely with technical and commercial resources in highly specialised teams. Fully utilising the team’s resources in a demanding commercial and political landscape is imperative for ensuring that the highest legal and ethical standards are met. This has manifested in the team’s involvement in some of the projects including some of the largest investments in Norwegian history, such as the ‘procurement of new F-35 fighter jets (NOK 71.5 bn) and new submarines (NOK 41bn) for the Norwegian Armed Forces’. It also advised on several larger legal disputes and Kvandal highlights three significant recent cases: ‘dispute relating to the upgrading of Combat Vehicles (total contract value NOK 10 bn), new coast guard vessels (total contract value NOK 6.8 bn, negotiation and signing of new land-based artillery from a Korean supplier (total contract value NOK 3.2 bn)’. Regarding the expertise of the team, Kvandal himself – appointed to lead the team in 2016 – is noted as having broad international experience both as a lawyer and as a leader, having held ‘several key roles in some of the larger cross-border infrastructure projects in North-Western Europe [and experience as] an associate in the leading law firm Thommessen and as a deputy judge’. Other key individuals within the team include lawyer Geir J. Kruge, who has has more than 30 years of legal experience in private practice, Magnus Bydal who has more than a decade of experience from the Ministery of Defence and international projects and is known to possess a ‘practical way of solving complex issues, balancing law and political considerations’. Other noted team members include Anders Svalheim who was ‘brought in to lead the legal work related to the procurement of F-35 fighter jets, having previously supported air force related procurements such as F-16, Bell 412, and NH90’ and Åse Rieber-Mohn, ‘a public procurement expert, responsible for handling litigations and complaints’. Amassing this legal talent has been part of the changes made in the team since its creation in 2016, and Kvandal sums up the others as including the ‘development and implementation of new corporate systems, including legal and risk management tools, a corporate governance program, new security regulations, and designing a new tool for portfolio management of contract risk and supporting the management and the organisation with timely high-quality legal advice’.