House of Commons: Equipment

(asked on 8th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, for what reason the House procured mouse mats made in Italy for distribution to Members; and whether UK manufacturers were invited to tender for that contract.


Answered by
Pete Wishart Portrait
Pete Wishart
This question was answered on 16th June 2020

The Digital Service requested the procurement of 2000 cyber-security mouse mats in late February/early March. These were posted to Members along with an information booklet on working safely from home. Efforts have been made to make the procurement of such merchandise more sustainable and ‘locally’ produced wherever possible. Over the course of the cyber security campaigns, the majority of our budget has gone towards UK-based procurement.

The cyber-security mouse mats were procured under Lot 2 Promotional category of the Print Framework FWK1120. A mini tender took place within the Promotional category for this job and was awarded to the supplier which best met the customer’s requirements. All our awarded promotional suppliers under this Lot are UK based but they can subcontract under the terms and conditions using verified and trusted sub-contractors. Their subcontractors are not limited to being just UK based and the materials and items can be imported substrates or manufactured abroad at its entirety. Our Promotional suppliers use and have a mix of both UK and overseas subcontractors. Under the terms of the UK Procurement Regulations 2015, it is of course unlawful to discriminate positively in favour of UK suppliers.

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