Settlement Agreement

Concepts

• health services
• ecolog
• settlement agreement
• deed of settlement
• services agreement
• letter of intent
• hm government
• laboratory units
• laboratory tests
• execution of the contract

Location

United Kingdom:

Description

Ecolog was originally intended to be one of the partner brought online to meet the Test and Trace capacity targets.As part of HM Government emergency response to the Covid-19 pandemic emergency, Test and Trace entered into a Letter of Intent with Ecolog in September 2020. This Letter enabled Ecolog to mobilise and equip laboratory units to provide diagnostic (RT-PCR) testing for COVID-19 to meet targets for numbers of tests performed. As the programme progressed, HMG decided not to proceed with the Services Agreement with Ecolog; this Deed of Settlement was signed to discharge all obligations under the Letter of Intent and reimburse Ecolog for costs incurred. The costs relate to the costs of equipment delivered, laboratory tests undertaken pending the execution of the contract and mobilisation costs.This notice relates to the Deed of Settlement concluded between the parties after some services and equipment had been provided by Ecolog.

Total Quantity or Scope

Ecolog was originally intended to be one of the partners brought online to meet the Test and Trace capacity targets.As part of HM Government emergency response to the Covid-19 pandemic emergency, Test and Trace entered into a Letter of Intent with Ecolog in September 2020. … The expected contract for laboratory testing equipment and services was never entered into.

Award Detail

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 85100000 - Health services

Legal Justification

There was undoubtedly a risk to public health and DHSC was reacting to a global emergency that was changing on a daily basis. An existing framework or other existing purchasing system was not available, with the National Microbiology Framework unlikely to have been available until early 2021. The need for the tests was immediate, with scientific forecasts at the time warning of daily cases of COVID-19 rising to as many as 50,000 per day in the coming weeks. That urgency was growing following increased levels of COVID-19 infections across the country. Whilst some increase in the number of cases was potentially foreseeable, the timing and scale of the increased demand was not so foreseeable.The situation was not attributable to the contracting authority, as the need for extreme urgency was a direct result of the consequences of the pandemic. There was no evidence or any suggestion that DHSC had done anything or had failed to do anything that has exacerbated the need for the increased level of tests.

Other Information

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