Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to remove any potential conflicts of interest when awarding Government contracts relating to their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guidance on how contracting authorities should respond to COVID-19 was published on 18 March. 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. Various options are available which include:

- direct award due to extreme urgency;

- direct award due to absence of competition or protection of exclusive rights;

- call off from an existing framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system;

- call for competition using a standard procedure with accelerated timescales; and

- extending or modifying a contract during its term.

We have also made it clear that authorities must continue to achieve value for money for taxpayers, use good commercial judgement and publish the details of any awards made, in line with Government transparency guidelines.