Supply of Plant and Associated Services

The Cabinet Office will entrust a supplier to procure fully automated plant machinery which can be utilised for the production of UK-compliant non-medical face coverings (and Type IIR medical-grade masks in extremis), which are required urgently to support the national effort to combat Covid-19.

Additional information: The text below is a continuation of paragraph 7 of Annex D1

• a.There are genuine reasons for extreme urgency: CO has responded to Covid-19 immediately due to public health risks presenting a genuine emergency. The DCR Machines possess the capability to produce Type IIR face masks, which could be utilised by the NHS in extremis, therefore providing domestic resilience during the crisis.
• b.The events that have led to the need for extreme urgency were unforeseeable: The European Commission (Commissioner Breton - April 2020) has confirmed that the coronavirus crisis presents an extreme and unforeseeable urgency.
• c.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 CO to secure production machinery in the immediate term. That is particularly so in light of the likely delays to any procurement timeline - for example, drafting the technical documents required for the ITT stage - and the operational and commercial risks that would arise due to the delays.
• d.The situation is not attributable to the Contracting Authority: It has not done anything to cause or contribute to the need for extreme urgency.
• e.As far as is strictly necessary: The UK only had limited suitable machinery available at the time the Expert Machines were purchased leaving the UK vulnerable should other countries have embargoed such machinery or medical and non-medical grade face coverings.