Secretary of State for the Home Department (acting through the Home Office)

London

UK

Contact person: Legacy Common Goods & Services Team

E-mail: LegacyCommonGoodsandServices@homeoffice.gov.uk

NUTS: UK

Internet address(es)

Main address: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office

II.1.1) Title

Reference number: Contract Reference number C18524

II.1.2) Main CPV code

35113400

II.1.3) Type of contract

Supplies

II.1.4) Short description

Secretary of State for the Home Department (the ‘Authority’) has awarded a short-term contract to YESSS Electrical for the supply of non-medical related personal protective equipment to protect Home Office employees from contracting the Covid-19 disease.

II.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

II.1.7) Total value of the procurement

Value excluding VAT: 1 000 000.00  GBP

IV.1.1) Type of procedure

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

Justification for selected award procedure:

The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the Directive

Explanation

Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union in the cases listed below

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

Explanation:

1) The Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is a serious infectious respiratory disease and its consequences pose a risk to life. The Covid-19 outbreak is a public health emergency of international concerns as declared by the World Health Organisation on 30 January 2020. The WHO Director General characterised Covid-19 as a pandemic on 11 March 2020, by this stage Europe was the centre of the pandemic;

2) The use of non-medical related Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is critical in safeguarding the health and lives of Home Office front line operations/key staff. Delays in procuring the face mask and PPE related products poses a risk to life of those on the front line and the likelihood of significantly increased death toll;

3) During the period of lock down from March, the authority experienced severe shortages of Face Masks, Hand Sanitizers and other related PPE wear, modelling based the trajectory of other European countries forecast the need for significant and extremely rapid increase in the UK for non-medical related PPE wear capacity. Shortfalls in non-medical related PPE wear stocks were identified globally. There was immense demand for non-medical related PPE products, requiring the UK government to actively seek and create new supply chains rapidly to meet that demand. In these circumstances, a procurement following the usual timescales under the PCR 2015, including accelerated options, was impossible. PPE manufacturers and supply chains were under immediate and unprecedented global pressure to provide products. A delay in engaging with the market by running a usual procurement process ran the risk of failing to acquire the necessary stock of PPE and non-medical related products and presenting a significant risk to life;

4) The Secretary of State for the Home Department is satisfied the tests permitting use of the Negotiated procedure without prior publication (Regulation 32(2)(c)) were met:

A. As far as is strictly necessary:

PPE and non-medical related products (Face Masks, Hand sanitizers, gowns and gloves) was identified as strictly necessary to meet anticipated demand for HO frontline staff, including any key staff who were required to be in the office during the first wave of cases in the UK.

B. There are genuine reasons for extreme urgency:

Home Office are responding to Covid-19 immediately because of health risks posed to front line staff and the public at ports and airports presenting a genuine emergency.

C. 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, 1 April 2020. Link to the communication from the commission

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.CI.2020.108.01.0001.01.ENG&toc=OJ:C:2020:108I:TOC).

D. It was impossible to comply with the usual timescales in the PCR:

Due to the urgency of the situation there was no time to run an accelerated procurement under the open, restricted or competitive procedures with negotiation that would allow Home Office to secure delivery of products, particularly in light of the corresponding delays to timelines associated with securing supply of PPE and non-medical products globally.

E. The authority acted in accordance with PPN’s issued to support departments response to C-19.

F. The situation is not attributable to the contracting authority:

The Home Office has not caused or contributed to the coronavirus.

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

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No

YESSS Electrical

Unit 9, Cromwell Road

Stockport

SK6 2RF

UK

NUTS: UK

The contractor is an SME: Yes

VI.4.1) Review body