Express freight service contract announced to deliver medicines and medical supplies into the country

• DHSC setting up service to deliver urgent medicines and medical products to the UK within 24-72 hours
• Move bolsters robust plans in place to help ensure frontline services are fully prepared, as we leave the EU on 31 October

The Department for Health and Social Care is strengthening its preparations for Brexit on October 31 with a £25m contract to set up an ‘express freight service’ to deliver medicines and medical products into the country.

As part of our comprehensive and ongoing plans to prepare, the department is leading a procurement exercise for an express freight service, as part of the Government’s plans to support continuity of supply when the UK leaves the EU on October 31.

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 on a two-to-four-day basis. 

The estimated total value of the contract is £25m and will run for 12 months, with a possible further 12-month extension.

Health Minister Chris Skidmore said:

“I want to ensure that when we leave the EU at the end of October, all appropriate steps have been taken to ensure frontline services are fully prepared.

“That’s why we are stepping up preparations and strengthening our already extremely resilient contingency plans. 

“This express freight service sends a clear message to the public that our plans should ensure supply of medical goods remains uninterrupted as we leave the EU.”

The service will provide an additional level of contingency as part of necessary preparations to leave the EU on 31 October, whatever the circumstances, supported by an additional £2bn from the Treasury across Government.

This includes £434 million to help ensure continuity of vital medicines and medical products, including through freight capacity, warehousing and stockpiling.

The new service - which will be available to the whole of the UK - will support existing plans already in place, including:

While the majority of goods will be standard medicines and medical products, the express freight service can also deliver temperature controlled products if needed.

The contract notice has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union and potential bidders have until August 21 to submit proposal and the successful provider or providers will likely be announced in September.

The taxpayer will only be liable for up to circa £4m of the total value of the contract, but we expect it to be much less than this.

Notes to editors:

• This procurement will be run under a ‘public procurement process’ and a contract notice with the Invitation To Tender (ITT) was submitted to the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) on Thursday 18^th July.
• This represents the formal invitation to tender for potential providers, following publication of a prior information notice (PIN) on the 26^th June. 
• The approach and the contract notice have been developed in light of market engagement between the DHSC and providers in the market that have registered their interest in response to the PIN.
• The contract notice and ITT provides details on the services that the DHSC is seeking to contract for, confirming the:
• • Capacity of daily express freight requirements - this is 30m3 for ‘parcels’ and 50 ‘pallets’ and then 5m3 for ‘specials’ (per day)
  • Length of contract and terms relating to flexibility – designed to cover a range of potential EU Exit scenarios
  • Specification of the management services and supplier service to be provided
• The contract has been extended to 12 months rather than 3 months, with a possible further 12-month extension. This, combined with the increased capacity, has increased the cost. 
• The estimated total value of the contract is £25m, which is based on the total potential value of services should it be required to run for the full two years. This includes all potential costs, not all of which will be paid by the taxpayer. The taxpayer will only be liable for up to circa £4m of the total value, but we expect it to be much less than this. We have added sufficient break clauses into the contact to ensure taxpayers’ money is well-invested.