Miscellaneous medical devices and products

Tender description

This notice relates to the purchase of type II R masks for use across Northern Ireland Health and Social Care. This notice relates to the purchase of face masks used for personal protection. The contracting authority has utilised Regulation 32(2)(c) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) which provides a derogation from the obligation to competitively tender for a contract for goods or services over the EU Threshold where the works, supplies or services are required as per the below: ‘(c) Insofar as is strictly necessary where, for reasons of extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the contracting authority, the time limits for the open or restricted procedures or competitive procedures with negotiation cannot be complied with.’ Regulation 32(2)(c) has been utilised in this instance due to the following rationale: Face masks are essential personal protection equipment (PPE) for front line healthcare staff. The impact of Covid-19 and the unforeseen exponential increase in the requirement of face masks caused disruption to the supply chain for these masks. Ordinarily existing contractual arrangements and emergency stockpiles can be relied upon in such instances, however, in this case such provisions have proven insufficient to meet the scale of the additional demand for these items. The worldwide shortage of face masks and the virtual collapse of the supply chain could not have been foreseen by the contracting authority. The contracting authority embarked on a Dynamic Purchasing System procurement process for PPE however the extreme urgency and lead time for manufacture meant that it was not feasible to await the implementation of the DPS. Guidance issued by the European Commission for emergency situations related to the Covid-19 crisis (2020/C 108 I/01) section 2.3.1 states the following. ‘The specific needs for hospitals, and other health institutions to provide treatment, personal protection equipment, ventilators, additional beds, and additional intensive care and hospital infrastructure, including all the technical equipment could, certainly, not be foreseen and planned in advance, and thus constitute an unforeseeable event for the contracting authorities.’ The contracting authority had been contacted by local manufacturers, with the support of InvestNI, with a proposal to manufacture face masks locally. Relying on both regulation 32(2)(c) and European Commission guidance (2020/C 108 I/01) section 2.3.1 the contracting authority negotiated directly with the local suppliers based on the modelling requirement of the Health and Social Care Northern Ireland (HSCNI) in the current Covid-19 pandemic.