---
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"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-0297ac"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0297ac"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0297ac.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0297ac.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE"
published: "2021-03-02"
---

# The provision of freight services for the supply of personal protective equipment, medical equipment and lateral flow test kits for testing of COVID-19

Buyer: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-0297ac

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## Summary

The Department of Health and Social Care is seeking the provision of freight services for the supply of personal protective equipment, medical equipment, and lateral flow test kits in response to COVID-19. This procurement, classified under the industry category of 'Freight transport agency services', has been completed and was conducted through a limited procurement method without prior publication. The contract value stands at £3,510,000, with the agreement signed on 19 November 2020. This process was marked by extreme urgency due to unforeseeable demands stemming from the pandemic, necessitating rapid action to secure essential supplies for the UK.

This tender presents substantial opportunities for businesses in the logistics and transportation sectors, particularly those adept at air freight operations. Given the urgent need for timely delivery and the complex challenges in securing freight capacity amidst global demand spikes, companies with expertise in rapid response and handling of medical goods would be particularly well-positioned to compete. Businesses that can demonstrate a robust capacity for transport, especially under tight deadlines and regulatory requirements, will likely benefit from such procurement opportunities, enhancing their growth in today's competitive environment.

## Notice

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. Additional information: This notice has previously been published in "Find a Tender Service" (FTS), the UK e-Notification service. Publication in the Official Journal of the European Union was delayed by a technical issue on behalf of the EU publications Office, which has now been resolved

### 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.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/004167-2021 |
| 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 |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 2 Mar 2021 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 19 Nov 2020 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £3,510,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Cancelled |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | South West London |
| Postcode | SW1H 0EU |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London |
| Local authority | Westminster |
| Electoral ward | St James's |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 63 - Supporting and auxiliary transport services; travel agencies services

### Codes

- 63521000 - Freight transport agency services

## Release History

- 2 Mar 2021 at 15:53 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/004167-2021

## Notice URLs

- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0297ac. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0297ac.json.