Department for Work and Pensions: Coronavirus

(asked on 30th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Procurement Policy Note 04/20: Recovery and Transition from COVID-19, published on 9 June 2020, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of maintaining the provision of contractual relief as a result of covid-19 in line with Procurement Policy Notice 02/20; which (a) companies and (b) work areas will be affected by changes to that contractual relief; and what the timeframe is for proposals to change that contractual relief.


Answered by
Mims Davies Portrait
Mims Davies
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 6th July 2020

Procurement Policy Notice 04/20 came in to force on the 1st of July effectively replacing PPN 02/20 which provided for payment of suppliers to ensure service continuity during and after the current coronavirus, COVID-19, outbreak. Following publication of PPN 02/20 the commercial team acted immediately to review the Department’s supply chain and, on a case-by-case basis, identify suppliers at risk and agreed a number of payments under this PPN, to ensure suppliers identified as at risk would be in a position to resume normal contract delivery once the outbreak is over.

PPN 04/20 enables payments made under PPN 02/20 to continue until the 31st of October 2020 as well as for new relief payments to be made where a new need to provide support to at risk suppliers is identified and enables the Department to make alternative relief arrangements such as easing of certain service levels. It also requires the Department to work transparently in partnership with suppliers to plan an eventual exit from these relief measures. As such, the commercial team continue to work with colleagues throughout the Department to monitor individual suppliers within our supply chain, understand the changing position of those suppliers in receipt of relief payments and identify any additional suppliers who may require support. Again, the assessment of relief is made on a case-by-case basis depending on the particular circumstances of each supplier impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Whenever a relief payment has been considered under PPN 02/20, or will be considered under PPN 04/20, this follows a rigorous approval process assessing the particular circumstances of the supplier, the market and the need, and is subject to both commercial and Departmental approval prior to any payment being made. This ensures that the merits of making or continuing the relief payments or easing of service levels are considered at all stages of the process

As we move in to the effective period of PPN 04/20 we do not anticipate the immediate cessation of any relief payments but the existing relief provided (as detailed below) will be monitored closely and we will proactively discuss and make appropriate arrangements with each of the suppliers in receipt of relief to move towards a sustainable position by the end of October 2020. This will involve an assessment of the new or continuing circumstances and challenges that the supplier might be facing, which may in fact be exacerbated by the resumption of some services, and the mutual agreement of appropriate relief measures as well as a plan to transition to steady state.

In cases where a return to a pre-COVID state might not be viable, discussions with the supplier will extend to agreeing appropriate contractual arrangements for a new, sustainable position.

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