Recommendation 12

NHST&T relies on contractors for many of its supplies, services and infrastructure. The Department stated that, to scale up NHST&T so rapidly, it had used a “blended mix” of civil servants, military support, contractors and consultancy support.40 By the end of October 2020, NHST&T had signed 407 contracts worth £7 billion with 217 public and private organisations, of which 121 (or 70% of the contract value) were assigned as direct awards without competition under emergency measures.41 The Department told us that, 30 Qq 45–46 31 Q 46; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-test-and-trace-england-statistics-31-december-2020-to- 6-january-2021. The weekly utilisation rate is calculated from the published statistics on available capacity and number of tests processed. 32 C&AG’s Report para 16; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-test-and-trace-england-statistics-31- december-2020-to-6-january-2021 33 Qq 128–134 34 Qq 134–143; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-test-and-trace-england-statistics-31-december- 2020-to-6-january-2021 35 Qq 38–39 36 Department of Health & Social Care submission point 4 37 Qq 88–89 38 Q 88; C&AG’s Report, para 3.30 39 Q 89; C&AG’s Report para 22, 3.30–32, Figure 22 40 Q 32; C&AG’s Report para 9 41 C&AG’s Report para 9, 1.34 COVID-19: Test, track and trace (part 1) 13 in November and December, it had awarded a further 207 contracts worth £1.3 billion, of which around 30 were direct awards under emergency regulations. It anticipated further reductions in the use of these regulations in favour of competitions and tendering exercises in future.42