Health Services: Procurement

(asked on 15th May 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) assessment he undertook, (b) the value was of and (c) procurement process was for each private sector NHS contract awarded by his Department since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Edward Argar Portrait
Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This question was answered on 20th May 2020

As part of an unprecedented response to this global pandemic we have drawn on the expertise and resources of a number of public and private sector partners to support the National Health Service and social care sector. Officials across Government have assessed each and every contract that has been entered into to ensure compliance with procurement regulations for exceptional circumstances, where being able to procure at speed has been critical in the national response to COVID-19.

Authorities are allowed to procure goods, services and works with extreme urgency in exceptional circumstances using regulation 32(2)(c) under the Public Contract Regulations 2015.The guide to how contracting authorities should respond to coronavirus was published on 18 March. This is applicable to all contracting authorities, including central Government departments, executive agencies, non-departmental public bodies, local authorities, NHS bodies and the wider public sector. We have been clear from the outset that public authorities must achieve value for money for taxpayers and use good commercial judgement.

The Contract Award Notices, containing information on the final agreed value of the contact, are being published on Contracts Finder as quickly as possible in line with Government transparency guidelines at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

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