PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Coronavirus: Protective Clothing (18 October 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of his Department's contracts for personal protective equipment are still to be uploaded to contract finder; what the value is of those contracts; whether those contracts were subject to competitive tendering; and when the remaining contracts will be published.

Asked by:
Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat)

All contracts notices and associated contracts awarded by the Department for the supply of personal protective equipment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are now available at the Contracts Finder service.

Regulation 32(2)(c) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 allows for the direct award of a contract without advertising in cases of “extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the contracting authority”. The majority of COVID-19 related contracts were awarded using Regulation 32(2)(c) with the remainder using other procedures under the 2015 Regulations which allow for a direct award without tendering such as call-offs from pre-tendered framework contracts.

Answered by:
Edward Argar (Conservative)
2 November 2021