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Cabinet Office issued guidance on public procurement regulations and responding to the pandemic. Public bodies are permitted to procure goods, services and works with extreme urgency using regulation 32(2)(c) under The Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
This regulation allows public bodies to negotiate with any supplier to provide their requirements without undergoing a formal competition.
The National Audit Office investigation covers procurement by government departments and their arm’s-length bodies but does not cover procurements carried out by NHS trusts, NHS foundation trusts and local authorities on their own behalf. Most of these contracts (86%) were awarded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Download the full report here.
