The Department of Health and Social Care is seeking procurement partners to deliver an urgent medicines and medical products service as part of Brexit preparations.
In a £25 million contract, the DHSC aims to ensure medicines and products are available within four days.
The service is intended to deliver small parcels of medicines or medical products on a 24-hour basis, with additional provision to move larger pallet quantities within four days. The service will be UK-wide and will include temperature-controlled products.
The contract will run for 12 months, with a possible further 12-month extension.
The contract notice has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union and potential bidders have until 21 August to submit proposals. The successful provider(s) are expected to be announced in September.
The taxpayer will only be liable for up to around £4 million of the total value of the contract.
The new service will support existing plans already in place, including:
- building buffer stocks of medicines and medical products
- changing or clarifying regulatory requirements so that companies can continue to sell their products in the UK if we have no deal
- strengthening the process and resources used to deal with shortages
- procuring additional warehouse capacity
- supporting companies to improve the readiness of their logistics and supply chains to meet the new customs and border requirements for both import and export.