Conversion of Automated Assembly Machinery

CPV: Machinery for working plastics

Procedure method

Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition

Legal basis

CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)

Procurement category

Goods

Notice status

Awarded without competition

Procurement threshold

Unspecified in notice

Regulatory regime

Standard

Commercial structure

Stand-alone contract (no framework)

Competition type

Direct award (no call for competition)

GPA / WTO covered

Yes (GPA)

Recurring procurement

Unspecified in notice

First published

8 Sept 2021, 16:12 BST

Last source update

8 Sept 2021, 16:12 BST

FTS notice number

2021/S 000-022310

Classification (CPV)

Machinery for working plastics

Delivery area

UK

Official registry OCID

ocds-h6vhtk-02de95 Find a Tender

Why no open competition

Additional deliveries by the original supplier ordered under the strict conditions stated in the directive

Published justification

The machinery was designed by and manufactured by Huxley Bertram Engineering Ltd. Therefore, the most viable supply decision was to instruct Huxley Bertram to carry out this work which consists of modifying the machinery to use 3mm test strips as opposed to the 5mm strips.1. The COVID-19 outbreak is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern as declared by the World Health Organisation on 30 January 2020. The WHO Director General characterised COVID-19 as a pandemic on 11 March 2020.2. A key element of ensuring an effective response to the pandemic is ensuring that there is adequate testing. Therefore, ensuring surge LFT capacity, including sufficient availability of Lateral Flow Tests, is critical. 3. Mass testing of the UK Population is a key step in bringing the Pandemic under control. (Lateral Flow Tests produce quicker results than the current PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) test, and do not require a lab processing step.) LFT tests have only recently become viable as a means of testing, with multiple tests being progressed through to certification and approval. This was unforeseen by the DHSC and outside its control.4. DHSC's market analysis data demonstrates that the global market for LFT is volatile and highly competitive. Global manufacturing capability is limited to circa 120m units per day. Demand often outstrips supply. DHSC requirement is driven by the progress of the pandemic (including emerging variants), the changing efficacy of available LTF products and the severity of the second wave/national R-number. That requirement means that the UK must make substantial purchases of tests during a short manufacturing window.5. DHSC has been tasked with ensuring security of supply of a critical consumable asset (Lateral Flow Antigen tests) in a volatile and competitive global marketplace. This manufacturing contract pursues that mandate by guaranteeing that DHSC is able to receive a stable supply of completed lateral flow test devices manufactured by a diagnostics tests manufacturing specialist, within the urgent timeframes required by the project and VFM cost.

• Huxley Bertram Engineering LtdAwarded supplier03358704 Tennyson House, Cambridge Business Park, Cambridge, UK, CB4 0WZ

No document links were published on the notice.