Department of Health and Social Care

39 Victoria Street

London

SW1H 0EU

UK

Telephone: +44 2072104850

E-mail: Procurement.Operations@dhsc.gov.uk

NUTS: UK

Internet address(es)

Main address: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care

II.1.1) Title

II.1.2) Main CPV code

33124130

II.1.3) Type of contract

Supplies

II.1.4) Short description

Provision of goods and services to support the UK Covid-19 Testing Strategy.

II.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

II.1.7) Total value of the procurement

Value excluding VAT: 27 996 352.00  USD

IV.1.1) Type of procedure

Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition

Justification for selected award procedure:

Extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable for the contracting authority and in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the Directive

Explanation

Negotiated procedure without prior publication:

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 March 2020.

A key element of ensuring an effective response to the pandemic is ensuring that there are sufficient NHS key workers available to deliver frontline NHS services. Public Health England guidance (based on expert medical opinion) states that if an individual has COVID-19 they must self-isolate for seven days; or if a member of their household has Covid-19 they must self-isolate for 14 days.

In practice, these rules means that on a day-to-day basis, many frontline staff, including in the NHS and carers, are unable to work due to needing to self-isolate – despite the possibility that they are not infected with Covid-19.

This is why on 27 March the Government announced major plans to rapidly expand the volume of Covid-19 testing available for NHS and other Key Workers outside of the NHS system – with the aim of getting as many non-infected staff back to work as soon as they are able. A key element of these plans is testing of key workers in the first instance before rolling out more widely.

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 which states that contracting authorities may enter into contracts without competing or advertising the requirement where certain tests are met, as follows:

1) There are genuine reasons for extreme urgency as there is a significant public health risk requiring immediate action as a result of Covid-19;

2) The Covid-19 outbreak and its consequences are unprecedented and the contracting authority could not have reasonably foreseen either of these;

3) It is not possible to comply with the timescales of another procedure due to the urgent requirement to obtain the testing kits and associated services being contracted for. It is imperative that testing is quickly and securely mobilised and for the service to be provided on a nationwide scale for Key Workers rapidly;

4) The Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences are not attributable to the contracting authority.

IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes

Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd

Gosling Building, Edmund Halley Road, Oxford Science Park, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX4

UK

NUTS: UK

The contractor is an SME: Yes

VI.4.1) Review body