Provision of Electronic Auction Services for the sale of Health-Related Stock

The Department (DHSC) is keen to understand market capabilities and commercial (operating) realities as they pertain to e-auctions and connected/related services in order to inform anticipated profile of sales (e.g. across product categories and customer/target segments over time), prospective suppliers’ abilities to sell at scale and potential non-sales services that can be applied in the event of unsuccessful sales or insufficient demand. Further details would be elaborated upon and questions fielded within our supplier event as well as supplier questionnaire(s). <br/><br/>Any potential procurement would be for a contract for improved management of excess (surplus/unused) stock through provision of e-auctions and related/connected services, including online asset sales, management and redistribution, particularly for excess stock (non-capital and capital assets) but also other categories that emerge during the contracting lifecycle. An indicative, non-exhaustive list of these may include:<br/><br/>• Personal Protective Equipment<br/>• Hand Hygiene Products<br/>• Medical equipment and related consumables<br/>• Medical/testing components/kits and packaging<br/>• Laboratory and diagnostic equipment<br/>• Ancillary stock and consumables related to the delivery of health and social care services <br/><br/>Other categories of excess from elsewhere in the DHSC, associated partner organisations and public sector may be expected to emerge during the contracting lifecycle. If needed, where the categories and volumes of saleable stock increase, the ability to flexibly increase and ramp-up capacity for sales from these initial volumes would be required. In particular, the nature of excess (surplus/unused) stock is subject to continuous assessment and stock requirements may vary during the term of the contract. While the following ranges of pallets of items are not to be taken as accurate or precise estimates of the quantity of excess (surplus) stock that may come into scope, it is intended to help prospective suppliers and stimulate feedback on market capabilities and commercial (operating) realities: as a guideline then, information on services that can be applied to anywhere between 200,000 – 3,000,000 pallets of items across a range of product categories would be welcome.<br/><br/>DHSC is procuring this solution as the lead contracting authority, and currently anticipates participation from internal Directorates, Arm’s Length Bodies and NHS organisations, though this contract will be available for any Health and Social Care related organisation to utilise during the term. <br/><br/>Some of the prospective requirements include:<br/>• E-auction services, including online asset sales, management and redistribution for a range of categories of excess (surplus/unused) stock. <br/>• Post sales processes - logistics, financing/invoicing, operational and other linked activities.<br/>• Ability to conduct sales and connected/related services internationally.<br/><br/>• Undertaking buyer due diligence once auction outcomes and sales are identified.<br/><br/>To support DHSC in producing the procurement documentation, including the specification, potential suppliers are invited to attend an engagement event on Friday 19th August 2022 from 2.30pm to 3.30pm. This will be an online event, delivered through MS Teams, and suppliers can register their details by emailing Stuart Merritt at stuart.merritt@dhsc.gov.uk. The purpose of the engagement event is to:<br/><br/>• Test with the market what is deliverable as proposed in this notice<br/>• Seek feedback on the proposed objectives of the solution<br/>• Understand the market capacity and capabilities <br/><br/>In addition to the engagement event, DHSC will be publishing a supplier questionnaire. If a potential supplier is not able to attend the event, this does not preclude participation in the supplier questionnaire and future survey. All information related to the engagement event will be shared following the event.