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The provision of freight services for the supply of lateral flow test kits for testing of COVID-19

Freight transport agency services
UK
Published value
Not published
Submission deadline Not published
Lots published1
Procurement Executive Summary
AI & Search Synopsis
Generated from official OCDS record
Tenderline Synopsis: Department of Health and Social Care: "The provision of freight services for the supply of lateral flow test kits for testing of COVID-19". Published status: complete. Published value: Value not published. 1 published lot. Submission deadline not published. See the official notice for participation instructions.
Contracting AuthorityDepartment of Health and Social CareScope & CategoriesNot publishedSubmission Window
complete
No deadline published
Submission GatewayDirect notice routeLegal Basis & RegimeStandard procurementEstimated Value (exc. VAT)Not published
Bidder Intelligence · Authority Profile: Department of Health and Social Care
Market Analytics
View Authority Profile →
Derived from OCDS awards & bid statistics
Published history for Department of Health and Social Care. These figures describe retained records, not a forecast of bids or a measure of buyer bias.
Average Price Reduction
Not availableInsufficient comparable data
Requires at least 5 comparable procedures
Competition Density
11.8Bids / Report
54.4% of reports have one bid
Supplier ConcentrationNo estimate
Insufficient attributable awardsNo concentration estimate available
Payment Terms
Check noticePublished terms
Payment obligations depend on the applicable regime and contract. Consult the official documents.
Coverage: 451 active published awards; 397 bid reports (which may be per lot). Supplier values exclude multi-supplier awards, frameworks and DPS, and use GBP only. They are published award values, not payments. Price reduction compares single-lot, single-award, single-supplier GBP procedures with explicitly non-framework/non-DPS status; increases remain in the average. Unpublished data stays unknown. Awarded suppliers are winners, not all bidders.
Procedure terms
Contracting AuthorityDepartment of Health and Social Care
Procedure methodNot published
Procurement categoryNot published
Statuscomplete
Framework / DPSNot published
CompetitionNot published
Above thresholdNot published
Legal basisNot published
Tender period startsNot published
Clarification deadlineNot published
Electronic submissionNot published
Submission languagesNot published
Published2 Feb 2021, 14:27 GMT
Last source update2 Feb 2021, 14:27 GMT
Recurring procurementNot published
ClassificationFreight transport agency services
Delivery area
UK
OCIDocds-h6vhtk-028f63
What is being bought
The provision of freight services for the supply of lateral flow test kits for testing of COVID-19
What changed
From the official release history
  1. Status changed to complete
    2 Feb 2021, 14:27 GMT
  2. Official notice release published
    2 Feb 2021, 14:27 GMT
  3. Buyer information updated
    2 Feb 2021, 14:27 GMT
Lots and requirements (1)
Published by the contracting authority
  • Lot 1 · #1
    Individual lot title not published
    cancelled
    Published valueNot published
    Direct Award under Reg 32 of the Public Contracts Regulation 2015 for COVID-19 response
    Contract periodNot published
    EligibilityNot published
    Options / renewalNot published
Timeline
  1. Procedure published
    2 Feb 2021, 14:27 GMT
  2. Award active
    Not published · Not published
  3. Contract active
    Signed 13 Jan 2021, 00:00 GMT · US$5,157,025
Commercial outcome and competition
Awards
Air Charter Service Ltd
Not published · Not published · active
Contracts
Contract
US$5,157,025 · signed 13 Jan 2021, 00:00 GMT · active
Bid statistics
bids: 1 (lot 1)
Buyer and organisations in this procedure

Department of Health and Social Care

Contracting authority GB-FTS-43
View buyer profile

  • Department of Health and Social Care
    buyer

    39 Victoria Street, London, UKI32, SW1H 0EU
    FreightContractNotices@dhsc.gov.uk

  • Air Charter Service Ltd
    supplier

    Air Charter Services Ltd
    Millbank House, 171-185 Ewell Road, Surbiton, UK, KT6 6AP

  • High Court
    reviewBody

    39 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0EU
Documents (0)
Official links; attachments are not copied
No data
No linked documents are published
Related procedures (0)
No data
No related procedures published
Planning and rationale
Planning budgetNot published
No-engagement rationaleNot published
Procedure rationaleThe Government has set out the increase of COVID-19 testing capacity as a cornerstone of its strategy to combat rising rates of infection, suppressing community transmission, savings lives and ultimately supporting societal and economic recovery.Successful validation of an initial range of newly developed COVID-19 lateral flow test kits was completed by the DHSC in September, allowing for orders to be placed to secure a sustainable supply of significant volumes of these products, as a fundamental enabler of the expansion of the testing programme.The supply of these new test kits is currently limited in the face of very high global demand and consequently it was necessary to contract for supply on an ex-works basis for product manufactured in China in order to secure the required quantity of product and prevent gazumping.Where product has be sourced on an ex works basis it is imperative that this product is moved at the earliest opportunity to prevent it being sold to higher bidders.In addition the rising rates of infection in the UK and predicted growth in cases over the coming months, has created an urgent need for these new test kits to support the testing programme in the UK and therefore Air Freight presents the only viable mode for moving product to the UK in time to meet the operational requirements of the testing programme.In light of these factors the contract was awarded to ACS to meet the specific urgent need to transport test kits to the UK, utilising flights from XMN during Q1 2021.The short lead time between validating new test kits and needing these kits in the UK to support the national response to a second wave of COVID-19 cases in the UK, justifies the use of direct award under Regulation 32 provision within the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.The Department is content the tests permitting use of the Negotiated procedure without prior publication (Regulation 32(2)(c)) are met:1) Air freight charters was identified as strictly necessary to meet anticipated demand.2) It is responding to COVID-19 immediately because of public health risks presenting a genuine emergency.3) The events that led to the need for extreme urgency were unforeseeable: 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."4) There was no time to run an accelerated procurement under the open, restricted or competitive procedures with negotiation that would secure services within the required timescales.5) The situation is not attributable to the contracting authority: It has not done anything to cause or contribute to the need for extreme urgency.