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Recommendation
Twenty-seventh Report - Covid-19: Suppl…
Acknowledged
Despite having to operate at speed, the Department of Health and Social Care still had a duty to carry out full due diligence for all parts of the supply chain. In early March, initial attempts by the Department to secure additional mechanical ventilators through its normal NHS supply chain routes …
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Despite having to operate at speed, the Department of Health and Social Care still had a duty to carry out full due diligence for all parts of the supply chain. In early March, initial attempts by the Department to secure additional mechanical ventilators through its normal NHS supply chain routes did not produce sufficient devices to bridge the gap between the available stock and what was needed. From 13 March, alongside the ventilator challenge, the Department concentrated its efforts on purchasing ventilators directly from overseas manufacturers and distributors with the help of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Trade. The Department says it did its best to confirm that sellers had CE marked ventilators available for sale and were credible organisations, but that it had not fully looked into the organisations supplying parts for the ventilators that it bought. We recognise that the Department had to operate at pace in the face of increasing global competition and the anticipated imminent spike in cases. But Departments are required by the procurement regulations to carry out due diligence on the organisations they buy from and if this is not done thoroughly, the Department puts itself at risk of funding organisations which may be involved in, for example, bribery and corruption or modern slavery. The Department did write to us one month after our evidence session to say that it had carried out ‘open source checks’ on Chinese suppliers and that it had complied with UK procurement regulations. However, it is not clear to what extent open source checks are sufficient to provide assurance over the full supply chain. Recommendations: The Department of Health & Social Care should set out in its Treasury Minute response its view of the risk resulting from the speed of its due diligence on its purchase of ventilators and how it is ensuring that its due diligence procedures for future procurements cover the full supply chain during eme
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Government response AI summary
The government agreed, explaining that due diligence for most purchases followed standard processes, but was limited during the emergency. It stated confidence that increased capacity and improved horizon scanning will reduce the future need for rapid, less thorough procurement.
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HM Treasury
20
Conclusion
Twenty-seventh Report - Covid-19: Suppl…
Acknowledged
From the outset, Cabinet Office’s strategy was to support a number of both new and existing designs. This was to provide it with insurance against new designs not meeting the regulatory standards on time and the likelihood of it facing global competition for parts and components used in existing designs. …
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From the outset, Cabinet Office’s strategy was to support a number of both new and existing designs. This was to provide it with insurance against new designs not meeting the regulatory standards on time and the likelihood of it facing global competition for parts and components used in existing designs. The Cabinet Office told us that its approach of connecting smaller companies with specialist design knowledge with larger manufacturers that had the ability to scale-up production of the designs worked “very well”.34
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Government response AI summary
The government agreed, stating it owns viable emergency ventilator designs with standard licensing terms (though no revenue generated yet), and has developed and shared a document on lessons learned from the Ventilator Challenge.
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HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Twenty-seventh Report - Covid-19: Suppl…
Acknowledged
In total the Cabinet financed 18 devices from 17 challenge participants over the course of the challenge; the majority of which were either completely new designs or modifications of existing designs. Through its technical design process, which eliminated devices based on whether they met regulatory requirements or were needed to …
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In total the Cabinet financed 18 devices from 17 challenge participants over the course of the challenge; the majority of which were either completely new designs or modifications of existing designs. Through its technical design process, which eliminated devices based on whether they met regulatory requirements or were needed to meet government’s targets, it identified just 3 participants whose products were required. The remaining 14 designs were not manufactured; of these the Cabinet Office believes that 5 could have gone on to meet the regulatory requirements had they been needed.35
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Government response AI summary
The government agreed, stating it owns viable emergency ventilator designs with standard licensing terms (though no revenue generated yet), and has developed and shared a document on lessons learned from the Ventilator Challenge.
Read full response →
HM Treasury