---
title: "Enteral Nutrition - Covid Supply Resilience"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-04161b"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04161b"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04161b.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04161b.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE"
published: "2023-11-06"
---

# Enteral Nutrition - Covid Supply Resilience

Buyer: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-04161b

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## Summary

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has awarded a contract for the supply of enteral nutrition feeds and consumables required to support patient life in intensive and critical care. The contract includes provision of stock management, storage, and rotation services, with a maximum value of approximately £895,000 (excluding VAT). The procurement method used was a limited procedure with an award made without prior publication of a call for competition. The award was made to Fresenius Kabi Ltd. The contract commenced on 1 July 2022 and has been extended to 30 June 2024.

This tender provides an opportunity for businesses supplying high protein enteral feeds and dedicated consumables for critical care settings. The Department of Health and Social Care's procurement rationale highlighted the technical reasons necessitating the direct award to major suppliers in the UK market. Businesses specialising in the supply of enteral nutrition products compatible with specific pump systems would find this tender well-suited for their expertise. The contract's competitive criteria included both quality and price considerations, with the award being based on a 70% quality and 30% price split.

## Notice

Supply of enteral nutrition feeds and consumables required to support patient life in intensive and critical care including provision of stock management, storage and rotation services to ensure supplier has sufficient supplies in stock for NHS customers to buy through pre-existing framework agreements.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has (on behalf of NHS bodies in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) awarded this contract for the supply of enteral nutrition feeds and consumables required to support patient life in intensive and critical care. The contract includes provision of stock management, storage and rotation services to safeguard supply of these essential life-saving products by ensuring the supplier has sufficient supplies in stock for NHS customers to buy through pre-existing framework agreements.

Under the contract, the supplier will supply and provide stock management services in relation to the following products: 
* enteral water:
* high protein enteral tube feed; and 
* enteral pumps compatible with the above products. 

The maximum value of this contract is estimated to be PS 895,000 (excluding VAT). The estimated value is based on clinically identified volumes and validated assumptions.

The contract award notice is being published retrospectively, having been inadvertently not published previously due to an IT systems error. DHSC is publishing the notice now to correct that error.

Options: The contract was for an initial 1 year period from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023 with options to extend (exercisable under the terms of the contract) on one or more occasions depending on business needs provided the contract ends no later than 30 June 2025. The contract has now been varied to extend the initial expiry date to 30 June 2024.

### Procurement Information

Specialised high protein enteral feeds and dedicated consumables (giving sets) are required to support patient life in intensive and critical care. Four suppliers supply 99% of the UK market. The enteral feeds and giving sets used with the pump fleets currently employed by NHS Trusts are bespoke to the supplier. Each supplier's enteral feeds are proprietary and only compatible with the same supplier's pump. In addition, the enteral feeds have short shelf lives (6-9 months), and it is vital suppliers manage and rotate stock effectively to ensure sufficient enteral feeds are available for NHS customers to buy through pre-existing framework agreements. 

As such, DHSC (on behalf of NHS bodies in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) has directly awarded four contracts - including the one referenced in this CAN - to each major enteral feed supplier to the UK market. The contracts are for the supply of enteral feeds and include the provision of stock management, storage and rotation services. 

DHSC believes the direct awards are justified under the grounds set out in Regulation 32(b)(ii) and Regulation 32(5) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as explained below.

Reg 32(2)(b)(ii) - absence of competition for technical reasons

A. The works, supplies or services can be supplied only by a particular economic operator as competition is absent for technical reasons: The pump fleets already procured by NHS trusts are standardised to a specific supplier's system, and therefore only compatible with proprietary enteral feeds and giving sets. As such, only the supplier can supply the required enteral feeds. 

B. No reasonable alternative or substitute exists: As the enteral feeds are proprietary and only compatible with the pump fleets already procured by NHS trusts, there are no reasonable alternative products available. 

C. The absence of competition is not the result of an artificial narrowing down of the parameters of the procurement: DHSC has not artificially narrowed the parameters of the procurement as the proprietary enteral feeds being procured are required to operate with pump fleets already procured by NHS Trusts.

Reg 32(5)/(6) - additional deliveries

A. Additional deliveries by the original supplier where a change in supplier would result in incompatibility in operation and maintenance: The 'additional deliveries' are being made by the same supplier. In addition, as the pump fleets already procured by NHS trusts are only compatible with proprietary enteral feeds and giving sets, any change in supplier would result in incompatibility.

B. The contract should not (save in exceptional circumstances) exceed 3 years: The contract does not exceed 3 years.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/032789-2023 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Framework |
| 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 | 6 Nov 2023 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 21 Feb 2023 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## 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 | FRESENIUS KABI |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 33 - Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals and personal care products

### Codes

- 33692300 - Enteral feeds

## Release History

- 6 Nov 2023 at 14:18 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/032789-2023

## Notice URLs

- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care
- https://www.judiciary.uk/courts-and-tribunals/high-court/

## 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-04161b. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04161b.json.