---
title: "Rapid Manufacture Ventilator System-Direct purchase agreement for Prima ES02 model 10000 Units"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-03aceb"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-03aceb"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03aceb.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03aceb.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "MINISTER FOR THE CABINET OFFICE ACTING THROUGH CROWN COMMERCIAL SERVICE"
published: "2023-02-28"
---

# Rapid Manufacture Ventilator System-Direct purchase agreement for Prima ES02 model 10000 Units

Buyer: MINISTER FOR THE CABINET OFFICE ACTING THROUGH CROWN COMMERCIAL SERVICE  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-03aceb

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## Summary

The procurement process for the Rapid Manufacture Ventilator System-Direct purchase agreement involved the UK government through various departments such as the Department of Health and Social Care, Cabinet Office, and Ministry of Defence. The procurement was initiated in response to the Covid-19 pandemic to increase ventilator supply for the UK National Health Service. The contract was awarded to Penlon Ltd through a limited procurement method without prior publication of a call for competition. The contract, valued at £105,230,000.0 GBP, was signed on 7th June 2020.

This tender for the Rapid Manufacture Ventilator System presents a vital opportunity for businesses in the anaesthesia and resuscitation industry category. Companies capable of rapidly manufacturing ventilator systems would be well-suited to compete in this procurement. Despite the cancellation status of the award process, understanding the context of the procurement, driven by the urgent need to address the Covid-19 crisis, sheds light on the critical role such contracts play in supporting public health emergencies and national healthcare systems.

## Notice

The 'Ventilator Challenge' was created by the UK government and delivered across several government departments (Department of Health and Social Care, Cabinet Office and Ministry of Defence) as part of the drive to increase ventilator supply and support the UK National Health Service (NHS) in its response to the Coronavirus disease global pandemic (Covid-19). In March 2020, the Prime Minister called on manufacturers to help the UK to step up production of ventilators to support the UK's response to the virus and save lives. This included working on new or adapted ventilator designs, as well the Government's work to buy ventilators from abroad. This contract was awarded as a result of the RMVS project. RMVS CANs Existing CANs relating to the RMVS project are 2020/S 100-243206, 2020/S 167-406004 and 2021/S 002-003456 (RMVS CANs). Due to the need to respond rapidly to the emerging situation, some design work, testing, developing and manufacturing was undertaken before a formalised contract with known costs and outputs was put in place between Cabinet Office and those RMVS suppliers at the time of the RMVS CANs. Instead Cabinet Office gave commitments to those RMVS suppliers to enable those suppliers to support the RMVS project at significant pace and to mitigate those suppliers operating entirely at risk during extremely turbulent and changing circumstances. The RMVS CANs reflected the estimated values as best known at the time and cost caps within which suppliers were operating. At the time of the RMVS CANs, in order to be as transparent as possible with the market, information available at the time of entering into those commitments was provided, notwithstanding that it was expected to take several months to settle on the final output and resulting contracts. The RMVS CANs were therefore published to notify the market of the estimated and maximum limits of the commitments Cabinet Office had entered into to support the RMVS project. Where a supplier appears on more than one RMVS CAN, this reflects an increase to the estimate or cost cap previously notified to the market. This contract is the Ventilator Challenge: Provision of Rapid Manufacture Ventilator Systems (RMVS) resulting from the support by Penlon Ltd to the RMVS project and which is the output of Penlon Ltd appearing on 2020/S 100-243206 of the RMVS CANs.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

The 'Rapid Manufacture Ventilator Systems (RMVS) programme' is a workstream within the ventilator challenge progressing novel and modified designs for ventilator devices, manufactured on a rapid basis to ensure sufficient capacity within the NHS. Cabinet Office, who are running the RMVS programme on behalf of the UK government, engaged with a wide range of suppliers, including designers, manufacturers and component suppliers, to progress a number of ventilator models (by taking forward existing designs through licencing agreements and by developing new products based on existing products and based on new original designs) resulting in the manufacturer of ventilators to meet the identified need.

### Procurement Information

The COVID-19 outbreak is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern as declared by the World Health Organisation on 30 January 2020. The WHO Director General characterised COVID-19 as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. The use of ventilator equipment is critical in treating patients with COVID-19 to take over the body's breathing process when the disease has caused the lungs to fail and allow the patient time to fight off the infection and recover. In March the NHS across the UK had access to approximately 8,000 ventilators. Modelling based the trajectory of other European countries forecast the need for significant and extremely rapid increase in the UK ventilator capacity. The Prime Minister set the ambition on 16 March 2020 for industry to manufacture as many new ventilators as possible, recognising that coronavirus is the biggest threat this country had seen for decades and that we faced a moment of national emergency. Significant quantities of extra ventilators would be required to treat seriously ill patients during the first wave of infections. Similar shortfalls in ventilator stocks were identified globally. Pressure to increase manufacturing capacity of ventilators was immense, requiring novel designs and new supply chains to be rapidly created to meet that demand. In these circumstances a procurement following the usual timescales under the PCR 2015, including accelerated options, was impossible. Ventilator manufacturers and supply chains were under immediate and unprecedented global pressure to provide products. A delay in engaging with the market by running a usual procurement process ran the risk of failing to acquire the necessary stock of ventilator equipment and presenting a significant risk to life. Cabinet Office is satisfied the tests permitting use of the Negotiated procedure without prior publication (Regulation 32(2)(c)) are met: 1. As far as is strictly necessary: The Ventilator Challenge was identified as strictly necessary to meet anticipated demand on the NHS during the first wave of cases in the UK. 2. There are genuine reasons for extreme urgency: It is responding to COVID-19 immediately because of public health risks presenting a genuine emergency. 3. The events that have 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." (Commissioner Breton, Internal Market, 01.04.2020). 4. It is impossible to comply with the usual timescales in the PCR: There was no time to run an accelerated procurement under the open, restricted or competitive procedures with negotiation that would allow it to secure delivery of products, particularly in light of the corresponding delays to timelines associated with securing increased manufacturing capacity and component supply 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/005875-2023 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Goods |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 28 Feb 2023 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 6 Jun 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 | £105,230,000 |

## Status

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

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | MINISTER FOR THE CABINET OFFICE ACTING THROUGH CROWN COMMERCIAL SERVICE |
| Locality | LIVERPOOL |
| Post town | Liverpool |
| Postcode | L3 9PP |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLD North West (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLD7 Merseyside |
| ITL 3 | TLD72 Liverpool |
| Local authority | Liverpool |
| Electoral ward | City Centre North |
| Westminster constituency | Liverpool Riverside |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | PENLON |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 33 - Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals and personal care products

### Codes

- 33170000 - Anaesthesia and resuscitation

## Release History

- 28 Feb 2023 at 14:59 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/005875-2023

## Notice URLs

- https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:243206-2020:TEXT:EN:HTML
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/7e7897f8-4293-4695-93b7-809055aff727
- https://www.gov.uk/ccs
- https://www.penlon.com/

## 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-03aceb. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03aceb.json.