Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Department of Health and Social Care
39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU
FreightContractNotices@dhsc.gov.uk
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UKI32 - Westminster
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care
Buyer's address
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority
one.5) Main activity
Health
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
The provision of freight services for the supply of personal protective equipment medical equipment
Reference number
SJBKKDSA14
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 63521000 - Freight transport agency services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
The provision of freight services for the supply of personal protective equipment and medical equipment
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
Value excluding VAT: 885,000 USD
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UK - UNITED KINGDOM
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Direct Award under Reg 32 of the Public Contracts Regulation 2015 for COVID-19 response
two.2.5) Award criteria
Price
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the cases listed below
- Extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable for the contracting authority
Explanation:
1. The consequences of not responding rapidly to the pandemic to meet the exceptional increases in demand for PPE to protect care providers and key workers, and medical products to treat patients, would be a significant excess illness and deaths in the UK.2. Huge increases in global demand, export restrictions from various nation states all contributed to a shortage of product availability. Where product could be sourced it was imperative that this product was moved at the earliest opportunity to prevent it being sold to higher bidders.3. The urgent need for PPE and medical products in the UK created a requirement for the fastest mode of transport. Air freight transit times were in the region of 4-5 days whereas sea freight was between 56-84 days.4. The disruption to freight and exports from China following their lockdown and export restrictions led to the severely restricted availability of freight capacity.5. The market for air freight was particularly disrupted by the cancellation of many scheduled passenger airline flights (removing significant air freight capacity from the market). This created a situation where there was severe lack of physical air freight capacity and dramatic cost inflation in this market.6. No pre existing government commercial agreements were identified which covered the nature and scale of the services required.7. This contract was awarded to Air Charter Service to meet a specific urgent need to transport PPE to the UK, utilising flights from BKK – DSA during June and July 2020.The Department is content the tests permitting use of the Negotiated procedure without prior publication (Regulation 32(2)(c)) are met:1) Air freight charters was identified as strictly necessary to meet anticipated demand.2) It is responding to COVID-19 immediately because of public health risks presenting a genuine emergency.3) The events that led to the need for extreme urgency were unforeseeable: The Commission itself confirmed: “The current coronavirus crisis presents an extreme and unforeseeable urgency – precisely for such a situation our European rules enable public buyers to buy within a matter of days, even hours, if necessary.""4) There was no time to run an accelerated procurement under the open, restricted or competitive procedures with negotiation that would secure services within the required timescales.5) The situation is not attributable to the contracting authority: It has not done anything to cause or contribute to the need for extreme urgency
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes
Section five. Award of contract
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
11 June 2020
five.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 1
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Air Charter Service Ltd
Millbank House, 171-185 Ewell Road
Surbiton
KT6 6AP
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UK - UNITED KINGDOM
National registration number
Air Charter Services Ltd
The contractor is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot: 885,000 USD
Total value of the contract/lot: 731,404.96 USD
five.2.5) Information about subcontracting
The contract is likely to be subcontracted
Short description of the part of the contract to be subcontracted
ACS is a brokerage company-this contract is therefore subcontracted to another company-details withheld because to do so would breach specific confidentiality agreements and would aggravate relationships with their service partners
Section six. Complementary information
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
High Court
39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU
Country
United Kingdom
Internet address
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care