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Official procurement procedure

Virus Testing Supplies

Manual swab test kits
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: "Virus Testing Supplies". 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.
Published-to-award variance
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. Published-to-award variance 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 Unpublished data stays unknown.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
Published12 Mar 2021, 16:22 GMT
Last source update12 Mar 2021, 16:22 GMT
Recurring procurementNot published
ClassificationManual swab test kits
Delivery area
UK
OCIDocds-h6vhtk-029b56
What is being bought
Provision of Nasopharyngeal Swabs
What changed
From the official release history
  1. Status changed to complete
    12 Mar 2021, 16:22 GMT
  2. Official notice release published
    12 Mar 2021, 16:22 GMT
  3. Buyer information updated
    12 Mar 2021, 16:22 GMT
Lots and requirements (1)
Published by the contracting authority
  • Lot 1 · #1
    Individual lot title not published
    cancelled
    Published valueNot published
    Provision of Nasopharyngeal Swabs
    Contract periodNot published
    EligibilityNot published
    Options / renewalNot published
Timeline
  1. Procedure published
    12 Mar 2021, 16:22 GMT
  2. Award active
    Not published · Not published
  3. Contract active
    Signed 6 Nov 2020, 00:00 GMT · £5,915,232
Commercial outcome and competition
Awards
Hutchison Technologies Ltd
Not published · Not published · active
Contracts
Contract
£5,915,232 · signed 6 Nov 2020, 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
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 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 in March 2020. 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 in March 2020 which states that contracting authorities may enter into contracts without competing or advertising the requirement where certain tests are met:1) There are genuine reasons for extreme urgency as there is a significant public health risk requiring immediate action as a result of COVID-192) The COVID-19 situation is novel and the Contracting Authority could not have reasonably foreseen these events3) It is not possible to comply with the timescales of another procedure due to the urgent requirement to obtain the supplies being contracted for. Additionally, there are many buyers competing for the same supplies. It is imperative that security of supply is maintained. Demand for equipment is high and there is little or no incentive for suppliers to participate in competitive procurement procedures.4) The situation is not attributable to the contracting authorityDHSC intends to make a direct award of a contract for the purchase of swabs from Hutchison (the Supplier) via the negotiated procedure without prior publication (the Contract) pursuant to Regulation 32 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015) rather than undertaking a competitive exercise.In summary:1. The Products must be of a certain specification from a regulatory perspective and are only available from a small number of suppliers in the market. DHSC is utilising all available suppliers in the market however, due to scarcity in the market and high demand for products, urgent purchasing is still required while more competitive routes to market are established;2. The Products are required to meet the Government’s requirements of testing higher numbers of people, which continue to increase in order to fulfil the track and trace initiative which seeks to reduce the risk of having another nationwide lockdown of all social and economic activity;3. DHSC had a relationship with the FCO in China who were originally facilitating the supply of the Products however, this option is no longer available and DHSC is unable to purchase the Products in this manner;4. The Contract will be for a period of up to 12 weeks and is to plug the gap between the current urgent requirement to meet the testing demand and the mini-competition which is currently being run and will be completed in January 2021;5. If DHSC does not commit to purchasing from the Supplier, there is a risk (as has happened with other suppliers) that DHSC will miss out on this demand and it will be allocated elsewhere;6. DHSC has carried out market testing with other suppliers in the market, in relation to the urgent provision of the Products and no other suppliers are able to meet the urgent demand;7. Further competitive routes to market are also being explored and DHSC has issued an RFI to the market to engage suppliers and understand whether suppliers in the market are able to meet the continuing demand;