Protective Clothing: Procurement

(asked on 9th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to continue to invoke the “extreme urgency” provision of regulation 32(2)(c) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 for personal protective equipment supplies throughout the winter; and when they intend to revert to normal procurement arrangements, including competitive tender.


Answered by
Lord Bethell Portrait
Lord Bethell
This question was answered on 24th November 2020

The Department assesses the market conditions for procuring supplies related to any procurement, including those relating to COVID-19, in accordance with procurement guidance and regulations. Where any procurement meets the tests for the use of Regulation 32(2)(c) for the direct award of a contract then that approached will be used. Where it does not, other approaches will be considered.

We have already ordered around 32 billion items of personal protective equipment (PPE), of which over 20 billion is already in the United Kingdom. To ensure we can respond rapidly to demand surges in the future, the Department is building a strategic stockpile of PPE. This month, we will have a four-month stockpile of all COVID-19-critical PPE in place. The demand for PPE and the different factors affecting its supply are though kept constantly under review.

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