Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to take steps to prevent tenders from China for the NHS face shield stock currently out for tender.

The Department is currently tendering for its pandemic preparedness portfolio and the procurement is being run against an existing NHS Supply Chain framework agreement.

The framework agreement only has suppliers on it which have been through a competitive tender and due diligence in line with both the legislation, at that time the Public Contract Regulations 2015, and which have been assessed against NHS Supply Chain’s minimum expectations, including sustainability, social value, and modern slavery.

NHS Supply Chain cannot discriminate against countries, except for Russia and Belarus, and this is in line with the Government’s National Procurement Policy Statement which specifically states that nothing in this statement should conflict with the Government’s international trade obligations.

In this tender, bidders were only permitted to tender products that were already awarded to the framework agreement. Furthermore, as part of the tender evaluation, for all products tendered, the technical product/conformity documentation was then reviewed again to ensure its validity, and a ‘hands on product assurance’ assessment requiring samples was undertaken.

Two suppliers on the existing NHS Supply Chain framework provided products under personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts to the Department in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which the Department was dissatisfied with. However, these contract issues have now been resolved. The products supplied under the NHS Supply Chain framework are not the same as for the Department’s PPE contracts, and any issues with future performance will be managed through the contract management process and practice already in place with NHS Supply Chain.