Published date: 18 May 2020

Last edited date: 16 March 2021

Awarded contract - This means that the contract has been awarded to a supplier.


Closing: 20 April 2020, 12pm

Contract summary

Industry

  • Diagnostic supplies - 33124130

Location of contract

Any region

Value of contract

£27,996,352

Procurement reference

tender_237869/853191

Published date

18 May 2020

Closing date

20 April 2020

Closing time

12pm

Contract start date

21 April 2020

Contract end date

20 July 2020

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Negotiated procedure without prior publication (above threshold)

The opportunity was not advertised, because for example only one supplier is capable of delivering the requirement, or due to extreme urgency brought about by unforeseen events.

This procedure can be used for procurements above the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No


Description

The Government must protect the health and well-being of UK citizens. The COVID-19 outbreak is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) as declared by the World Health Organisation on 30 Jan 2020. The WHO Director General characterised COVID-19 as a pandemic on 11 Mar 2020.

A key element of ensuring an effective response to the pandemic is ensuring that there are sufficient NHS key workers available to deliver frontline NHS services. Public Health England guidance (based on expert medical opinion) states that if an individual has COVID-19 they must self-isolate for seven days; or if a member of their household has COVID-19 they must self-isolate for fourteen days.
In practice, these rules means that on a day-to-day basis, many frontline staff, including in the NHS and carers, are unable to work due to needing to self-isolate - despite the possibility that they are not infected with COVID-19.
This is why on 27 March the Government announced major plans to rapidly expand the volume of COVID-19 testing available for NHS and other Key Workers outside of the NHS system - with the aim of getting as many non-infected staff back to work as soon as they are able. A key element of these plans is testing of Key Workers in the first instance before rolling out more widely.

COVID-19 is serious and its consequences pose a risk to life. Cabinet Office published PPN 01/20: Responding to COVID-19 on procuring with extreme urgency which states that contracting authorities may enter into contracts without
competing or advertising the requirement where certain tests are met, as follows:

1) There are genuine reasons for extreme urgency as there is a significant public health risk requiring immediate action as a result of COVID-19.
2) The COVID-19 outbreak and its consequences are unprecedented and the Contracting Authority could not have reasonably foreseen either of these.
3) It is not possible to comply with the timescales of another procedure due to the urgent requirement to obtain the testing kits and associated services being contracted for. It is imperative that testing is quickly and securely mobilised and for the service to be provided on a nationwide scale for Key Workers rapidly.
4) The COVID 19 pandemic and its consequences are not attributable to the Contracting Authority.


More information

Attachments


Award information

Awarded date

21 April 2020

Contract start date

21 April 2020

Contract end date

20 July 2020

Total value of contract

£27,996,352

This contract was awarded to 1 supplier.

Oxford Nanopore Technologies Limited

Address

Gosling Building, Edmund Halley Road, Oxford Science Park, Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, OX4 4DQ

Reference

No reference - other

Supplier is SME?

Yes

Supplier is VCSE?

No


About the buyer

Contact name

Department of Health and Social Care

Address

39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU
England

Telephone

+44 07710120042

Email

procurement.operations@dhsc.gov.uk