Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to return NHS Trusts to pre-pandemic procurement practices.

Guidance on how contracting authorities, including National Health Service trusts, should respond to the COVID-19 pandemic was published in March 2020 and February 2021, reminding them of the options available when undertaking procurements in an emergency. These two guidance documents are available, respectively, at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0120-responding-to-covid-19

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0121-procurement-in-an-emergency

Authorities are allowed to procure goods, services, and works with extreme urgency in exceptional circumstances, using regulation 32(2)(c) under the Public Contract Regulations 2015. These include a direct award under which authorities may enter into contracts without competing or advertising the requirement.

Contracting authorities assess the market conditions for procuring supplies related to any procurement, in accordance with procurement guidance and regulations. Where any procurement meets the tests for the use of Regulation 32(2)(c) for the direct awarding of a contract, then that approach can be used. However, where it doesn’t, other approaches will be considered.