Notice Information
Notice Title
The provision of freight services for the supply of personal protective equipment, medical equipment and lateral flow test kits for testing of COVID-19
Notice Description
The provision of freight services for the supply of personal protective equipment, medical equipment and lateral flow test kits for testing of COVID-19
Lot Information
Lot 1
Direct Award under Reg 32 of the Public Contracts Regulation 2015 for COVID-19 response
Procurement Information
The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented requirement for PPE and medical products, as well as testing kits. There were huge increases in global demand, and export restrictions from various nation states, which both contributed to a shortage of product availability. The consequences of not responding rapidly to the pandemic to meet the exceptional increases in demand would have resulted in significant excess illness and deaths in the UK. The Government has set out the increase of COVID-19 testing capacity as a cornerstone of its strategy to combat rising rates of infection, suppressing community transmission, savings lives and ultimately supporting societal and economic recovery.The urgent requirement for PPE, medical products and testing kits in the UK created a requirement for the fastest mode of transport. Air freight transit times were in the region of 4-5 days whereas sea freight was between 56-84 days.The supply of PPE, medical products and testing kits is currently limited in the face of very high global demand and consequently it was necessary to contract for supply on an ex-works basis for product manufactured in China in order to secure the required quantity of product and prevent gazumping. Where product has been sourced on an ex-works basis it is imperative that this product is moved at the earliest opportunity to prevent it being sold to higher bidders.The disruption to freight and exports from China following their lockdown and export restrictions led to the severely restricted availability of freight capacity. The market for air freight was particularly disrupted by the cancellation of many scheduled passenger airline flights (removing significant air freight capacity from the market). This created a situation where there was severe lack of physical air freight capacity and dramatic cost inflation in this market. No pre-existing government commercial agreements were identified which covered the nature and scale of the services required.In light of these factors the contract was awarded to Virgin Atlantic Airways to meet the specific urgent need to transport PPE, medical products and test kits to the UK, utilising flights from China to UK during December.The Department is content the tests permitting use of the Negotiated procedure without prior publication (Regulation 32(2)(c)) are met:1) Air freight charters was identified as strictly necessary to meet anticipated demand.2) It is responding to COVID-19 immediately because of public health risks presenting a genuine emergency.3) The events that led to the need for extreme urgency were unforeseeable: The Commission itself confirmed: "The current coronavirus crisis presents an extreme and unforeseeable urgency - precisely for such a situation our European rules enable public buyers to buy within a matter of days, even hours, if necessary."4) There was no time to run an accelerated procurement under the open, restricted or competitive procedures with negotiation that would secure services within the required timescales.5) The situation is not attributable to the contracting authority: It has not done anything to cause or contribute to the need for extreme urgency.
Notice Details
Publication & Lifecycle
- Open Contracting ID
- ocds-h6vhtk-028775
- Publication Source
- Find A Tender Service
- Latest Notice
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/000047-2021
- Current Stage
- Award
- All Stages
- Award
Procurement Classification
- Notice Type
- Award Notice
- Procurement Type
- Standard
- Procurement Category
- Services
- Procurement Method
- Limited
- Procurement Method Details
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Tender Suitability
- Not specified
- Awardee Scale
- Large
Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)
- CPV Divisions
63 - Supporting and auxiliary transport services; travel agencies services
-
- CPV Codes
63521000 - Freight transport agency services
Notice Value(s)
- Tender Value
- Not specified
- Lots Value
- Not specified
- Awards Value
- Not specified
- Contracts Value
- £3,510,000 £1M-£10M
Notice Dates
- Publication Date
- 4 Jan 20215 years ago
- Submission Deadline
- Not specified
- Future Notice Date
- Not specified
- Award Date
- 19 Nov 20205 years ago
- Contract Period
- Not specified - Not specified
- Recurrence
- Not specified
Notice Status
- Tender Status
- Complete
- Lots Status
- Cancelled
- Awards Status
- Active
- Contracts Status
- Active
Buyer & Supplier
Contracting Authority (Buyer)
- Main Buyer
- DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
- Contact Name
- Not specified
- Contact Email
- freightcontractnotices@dhsc.gov.uk
- Contact Phone
- Not specified
Buyer Location
- Locality
- LONDON
- Postcode
- SW1H 0EU
- Post Town
- South West London
- Country
- England
-
- Major Region (ITL 1)
- TLI London
- Basic Region (ITL 2)
- TLI3 Inner London - West
- Small Region (ITL 3)
- TLI35 Westminster and City of London
- Delivery Location
- Not specified
-
- Local Authority
- Westminster
- Electoral Ward
- St James's
- Westminster Constituency
- Cities of London and Westminster
Further Information
Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)
View full OCDS Record for this contracting process
The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.
{
"tag": [
"compiled"
],
"id": "ocds-h6vhtk-028775-2021-01-04T15:25:53Z",
"date": "2021-01-04T15:25:53Z",
"ocid": "ocds-h6vhtk-028775",
"initiationType": "tender",
"tender": {
"id": "VIRGIN PVG DEC",
"legalBasis": {
"id": "32014L0024",
"scheme": "CELEX"
},
"title": "The provision of freight services for the supply of personal protective equipment, medical equipment and lateral flow test kits for testing of COVID-19",
"status": "complete",
"classification": {
"scheme": "CPV",
"id": "63521000",
"description": "Freight transport agency services"
},
"mainProcurementCategory": "services",
"description": "The provision of freight services for the supply of personal protective equipment, medical equipment and lateral flow test kits for testing of COVID-19",
"lots": [
{
"id": "1",
"description": "Direct Award under Reg 32 of the Public Contracts Regulation 2015 for COVID-19 response",
"awardCriteria": {
"criteria": [
{
"type": "price"
}
]
},
"hasOptions": false,
"status": "cancelled"
}
],
"items": [
{
"id": "1",
"deliveryAddresses": [
{
"region": "UK"
}
],
"relatedLot": "1"
}
],
"procurementMethod": "limited",
"procurementMethodDetails": "Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition",
"coveredBy": [
"GPA"
],
"procurementMethodRationaleClassifications": [
{
"scheme": "TED_PT_AWARD_CONTRACT_WITHOUT_CALL",
"id": "D_EXTREME_URGENCY",
"description": "Extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable for the contracting authority/entity and in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the directive"
}
],
"procurementMethodRationale": "The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented requirement for PPE and medical products, as well as testing kits. There were huge increases in global demand, and export restrictions from various nation states, which both contributed to a shortage of product availability. The consequences of not responding rapidly to the pandemic to meet the exceptional increases in demand would have resulted in significant excess illness and deaths in the UK. The Government has set out the increase of COVID-19 testing capacity as a cornerstone of its strategy to combat rising rates of infection, suppressing community transmission, savings lives and ultimately supporting societal and economic recovery.The urgent requirement for PPE, medical products and testing kits in the UK created a requirement for the fastest mode of transport. Air freight transit times were in the region of 4-5 days whereas sea freight was between 56-84 days.The supply of PPE, medical products and testing kits is currently limited in the face of very high global demand and consequently it was necessary to contract for supply on an ex-works basis for product manufactured in China in order to secure the required quantity of product and prevent gazumping. Where product has been sourced on an ex-works basis it is imperative that this product is moved at the earliest opportunity to prevent it being sold to higher bidders.The disruption to freight and exports from China following their lockdown and export restrictions led to the severely restricted availability of freight capacity. The market for air freight was particularly disrupted by the cancellation of many scheduled passenger airline flights (removing significant air freight capacity from the market). This created a situation where there was severe lack of physical air freight capacity and dramatic cost inflation in this market. No pre-existing government commercial agreements were identified which covered the nature and scale of the services required.In light of these factors the contract was awarded to Virgin Atlantic Airways to meet the specific urgent need to transport PPE, medical products and test kits to the UK, utilising flights from China to UK during December.The Department is content the tests permitting use of the Negotiated procedure without prior publication (Regulation 32(2)(c)) are met:1) Air freight charters was identified as strictly necessary to meet anticipated demand.2) It is responding to COVID-19 immediately because of public health risks presenting a genuine emergency.3) The events that led to the need for extreme urgency were unforeseeable: The Commission itself confirmed: \"The current coronavirus crisis presents an extreme and unforeseeable urgency - precisely for such a situation our European rules enable public buyers to buy within a matter of days, even hours, if necessary.\"4) There was no time to run an accelerated procurement under the open, restricted or competitive procedures with negotiation that would secure services within the required timescales.5) The situation is not attributable to the contracting authority: It has not done anything to cause or contribute to the need for extreme urgency."
},
"awards": [
{
"id": "000047-2021-1",
"relatedLots": [
"1"
],
"status": "active",
"suppliers": [
{
"id": "GB-FTS-86",
"name": "Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd"
}
]
}
],
"parties": [
{
"id": "GB-FTS-43",
"name": "Department of Health and Social Care",
"identifier": {
"legalName": "Department of Health and Social Care"
},
"address": {
"streetAddress": "39 Victoria Street",
"locality": "London",
"region": "UKI32",
"postalCode": "SW1H 0EU",
"countryName": "United Kingdom"
},
"contactPoint": {
"email": "FreightContractNotices@dhsc.gov.uk"
},
"roles": [
"buyer"
],
"details": {
"url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care",
"buyerProfile": "https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care",
"classifications": [
{
"scheme": "TED_CA_TYPE",
"id": "MINISTRY",
"description": "Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local subdivisions"
},
{
"scheme": "COFOG",
"id": "07",
"description": "Health"
}
]
}
},
{
"id": "GB-FTS-86",
"name": "Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd",
"identifier": {
"legalName": "Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd",
"id": "1600117"
},
"address": {
"streetAddress": "The VHQ Fleming Way",
"locality": "Crawley",
"region": "UK",
"postalCode": "RH10 9DF",
"countryName": "United Kingdom"
},
"roles": [
"supplier"
],
"details": {
"scale": "large"
}
},
{
"id": "GB-FTS-45",
"name": "High Court",
"identifier": {
"legalName": "High Court"
},
"address": {
"streetAddress": "39 Victoria Street",
"locality": "London",
"postalCode": "SW1H 0EU",
"countryName": "United Kingdom"
},
"roles": [
"reviewBody"
],
"details": {
"url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care"
}
}
],
"buyer": {
"id": "GB-FTS-43",
"name": "Department of Health and Social Care"
},
"contracts": [
{
"id": "000047-2021-1",
"awardID": "000047-2021-1",
"status": "active",
"value": {
"amount": 3510000,
"currency": "GBP"
},
"dateSigned": "2020-11-19T00:00:00Z"
}
],
"bids": {
"statistics": [
{
"id": "1",
"measure": "bids",
"relatedLot": "1",
"value": 1
}
]
},
"language": "en"
}