Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2020-06-24
Buyer: UK Biobank Ltd
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 85140000: Miscellaneous health services | 85148000
Estimated value: 1560000 GBP
Award criteria: Lowest price

Technical requirements: Procurement of an Assay to Measure Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Antibodies in Human Blood Samples for the UK Biobank study of seroprevalence of Covid-19
UK Biobank is conducting a study of seroprevalence of Covid-19 in the population of up to 20 000 of its participants and their adult children and grandchildren (the ‘Study’). The study (which is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care) aims to collect blood samples from study participants each month for an initial period of 6 months and measure these samples to assess the extent of previous infection with the SARS‐CoV‐2 coronavirus (by measuring blood antibodies) in different locations and age groups across the UK. In order to enable the study, UK Biobank needed a supplier to provide an assay which could be used to measure blood antibodies. There was an urgent need to identify a supplier of an assay to enable UK Biobank to design the study – in particular the method of blood collection – to enable the study to start without delay. The study needed to start as soon as possible to enable UK Biobank to report the assay results to DHSC to assist the DHSC in its monitoring of Covid-19 in the population as part of its urgent public health response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst it is UK Biobank that has entered into the contract directly with the assay supplier, the DHSC will be remunerating the supplier direct (rather than payment being made through UK Biobank)
Procurement of an assay to measure severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies in human blood samples.
UK Biobank (‘UKB’) has relied on Regulation 32(2)(c) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (‘PCR 2015’) to make a direct award due to extreme urgency. In relying on this ground UKB has considered the guidance set out in the Cabinet Office information note ‘Procurement Policy Note – Responding to Covid-19 Information Note PPN 01/20 (March 020)’. The Covid-19 pandemic is so novel that the consequences were unforeseeable. Confirmation as to the need to undertake the Study as a matter of urgency was only confirmed to UKB on 23 April 2020 (with the study starting and blood collection kits being mailed out on 20 May 2020). This urgency did not provide UKB with sufficient time to comply with the usual/accelerated timescales in the PCR 2015 as it was imperative to ascertain which assay was being used in order to design the blood collection methods for the study and get the study started. The urgency UKB is responding to could not have been foreseen and is not due to UKB’s delay in acting. Reliance on Regulation 32(2)(2)(c) was imperative to enable UKB to design and start the study (in the interests of public health as part of the Government’s testing programme ‘Coronavirus (Covid-19) scaling up our testing programmes’ It was not practical to consider entering into a very short term services contract with the appointed contractor whilst a competitive accelerated process was run for the remainder of the study – the same assay needs to be used on all the samples in the study to ensure consistency and reliability of the data being generated and analysed for the purposes of the study.


Winner: The Chancellor Masters and Scholars of The University of Oxford
Award value: 1560000
Number of bids: 1