Production of non-medical face coverings

The Cabinet Office has entered into contracts with five producers to procure non-medical face coverings (with a value of between £20,000 and £66,000 only per producer) which are required to support the national Covid 19 pandemic response.

Additional information: The Authority has awarded five contracts for the supply of non-medical face coverings within the UK. The value of the goods purchased by the Authority is below the threshold values in Regulation 5 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (the "PCR").

The contracts involve the provision by the Contracting Authority of manufacturing equipment that the Contracting Authority owns by way of a lease to the five producers awarded a contract. The contracts also involve the provision by the Contracting Authority of raw materials to the producers for use in the manufacture of the face coverings. The purpose of these arrangements is to facilitate and accelerate production of non-medical face coverings, to address the urgent requirement for these arising as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic. These leasing and supply arrangements do not fall within the scope of the PCR 2015. The Contracting Authority purchased the manufacturing equipment subject to separate contracts set out in contract award notices 2020 S/141-348171 and 2020 S/143-352966 . The Contracting Authority purchased the raw materials under separate contracts set out in contract award notice 2021/S 000-001208.

The Contracting Authority was not required to publish a call for competition because these contracts do not fall within the scope of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. However, the Contracting Authority has opted to publish this notice in the interests of transparency.