Government Departments: Procurement

(asked on 29th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much money has been spent on contracts awarded via the high priority lane for procurement since 1 March 2020.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 8th February 2021

In March 2020 the Government issued a public call to action to support the increased requirements of personal protective equipment (PPE). This resulted in over 15,000 suppliers offering their help and support. The cross-government PPE team considered that leads referred by Government officials, Ministers’ offices, Parliamentarians, senior National Health Service staff and other health professionals were likely to be the more credible and needed to be initially reviewed with more urgency. This was commonly referred to as a ‘high priority’ or ‘VIP’ channel.

At the point of being prioritised these offers went into exactly the same due diligence, technical assurance, closing or contract negotiation and contract award process as all the other offers. About one in ten suppliers processed through this channel - 47 out of 493 - obtained contracts.

We do not intend to publish the list of these suppliers as there may be associated commercial implications. The Department has to consider the position of suppliers in terms of the recognition that disclosure of their names may damage the supplier’s reputation, affecting their competitive position and could have a potentially detrimental impact on their revenue and/or their ability to obtain future contracts. Contract Award Notices and the contracts themselves have now been published for all the PPE contracts awarded by the Department which contain the details of the supplier, the value of the contract and the items ordered under the contract.

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