Virus Testing Supplies

Concepts

• medical consumables
• provision of virus testing supplies
• virus testing supplies

Location

London

Description

Provision of virus testing supplies to support the UK COVID-19 Testing Strategy

Award Detail

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 33140000 - Medical consumables

Indicators

• Award on basis of price.

Legal Justification

The Government must protect the health and well-being of UK citizens. The COVID-19 outbreak is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) as declared by the World Health Organisation on 30 Jan 2020. The WHO Director General characterised COVID-19 as a pandemic on 11 Mar 2020.COVID-19 is serious and its consequences pose a risk to life. Cabinet Office published PPN 01/20: Responding to COVID-19 on procuring with extreme urgency in March 2020 which states that contracting authorities may enter into contracts withoutcompeting or advertising the requirement where certain tests are met.1) There are genuine reasons for extreme urgency: DHSC are responding to COVID-19 immediately because of public health risks presenting a genuine emergency2) The events that have led to the need for extreme urgency were unforeseeable: As the Commission itself confirmed: “The current coronavirus crisis presents an extreme and unforeseeable urgency – precisely for such a situation our European rules enable public buyers to buy within a matter of days, even hours, if necessary.” (Commissioner Breton, Internal Market, 01.04.2020).3) It is impossible to comply with the usual timescales in the PCR It is not possible to comply with the timescales of another procedure due to the urgent requirement to obtain the Sterile Saline Solution being contracted for. Additionally, there are many buyers competing for the same supplies. It is imperative that security of supply is maintained. Demand for products is high and there is little or no incentive for suppliers to participate in competitive procurement procedures. 4) The situation is not attributable to the contracting authority – DHSC has not done anything to cause or contribute to the need for extreme urgencyThe goods under this contract have been validated for use withing WS2 for the National testing programme and will allow us to meet testing targets