Department of Health and Social Care

39 Victoria Street

London

SW1H 0EU

UK

Contact person: Sachin Joshi

E-mail: sachin.joshi@dhsc.gov.uk

NUTS: UKI32

Internet address(es)

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

Address of the buyer profile: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care

II.1.1) Title

II.1.2) Main CPV code

33696500

II.1.3) Type of contract

Supplies

II.1.4) Short description

These is a requirement to establish supplies for a high-throughput quantitative serology method to identify people (initially NHS staff and patients and other key workers) who have had Covid-19 and have developed antibodies. This testing will help provide a better understanding of the disease and therefore inform the next stages of the Covid-19 strategy such as how to ease lock-down measures. The UK Chief Medical Officers previously agreed that we should be procuring centrally, where possible to avoid internal competition in relation to supplies. This also includes avoiding duplicating validations exercises of the same kit. Therefore, we have reached out to the devolved administrations (DAs) and Crown Dependencies (CD’s) to engage them with the validation and roll-out plans. The existing high throughput platforms have enough capacity to meet patient demand and to provide testing of NHS staff.

II.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

II.1.7) Total value of the procurement

Value excluding VAT: 4 741 070.00  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 works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason: protection of exclusive rights, including intellectual property rights

Explanation

On 11 March 2020 the World Health Organisation declared a Covid-19 pandemic with the associated serious risk posed to life. The UK Government’s response to the national emergency posed by Covid-19 includes the putting in place by it of arrangements for large-scale testing in respect of Covid-19 on an urgent basis. As part of those arrangements, it needs to acquire product in order to implement the large-scale antibody testing programme necessary to build a profile of the spread of Covid-19 and to prevent further loss of human life, to allow the population to return to work safely. Relevant to its procurement strategy is the efficient use of the capacity of the test instruments it already has installed at laboratories throughout the UK and accordingly the UK government will be fulfilling a its overall requirement for antibody testing by using the new antibody test developed by Ortho Clinical Diagnostics (Ortho). This test has been developed for use on Ortho test instruments already located in laboratories within the UK. Procurement in reliance on reg.32(2)(b)(iii) of the PCR 2015

1) DHSC understands, from enquiries made from its own technical experts, that the Ortho test instruments referred to above are a ‘closed’ platform, meaning that only goods manufactured by Ortho can work with it.

2) Reg.32(2) provides that the negotiated procedure without prior publication (i.e. the making of a direct award) may be used for a public supply contract: ‘(b) where the works, supplies or services can be supplied only by a particular economic operator for any of the following reasons: ... (iii) the protection of exclusive rights, including intellectual property rights, but only... where no reasonable alternative or substitute exists and an artificial narrowing down of the parameters of the procurement’.

3) Based on DHSC’s understanding, this requirement has been met thus:

• the supplies can be supplied only by a particular economic operator for the protection of exclusive rights, including intellectual property rights — Ortho has exclusive intellectual property rights over the testing laboratory systems and therefore are the only supplier that can provide the testing kits to work on the instruments already in use in the relevant laboratories.

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

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes

Ortho Clinical Diagnostics

2549777

Felindre Meadows, Pencoed

Bridgend

CF35 5PZ

UK

E-mail: malcolm.sheppard@orthoclinicaldiagnostics.com

NUTS: UKL1

The contractor is an SME: No

VI.4.1) Review body