A year ago, I was instructed to work on an expert report for the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, which was set up to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and learn lessons for the future.
The report ‘Public procurement in emergencies‘ covers the key principles, legal frameworks and relevant guidance with respect to public procurement by the UK government and devolved administrations and how this may be improved in the future.
While some core parts of the report focus on specific issues that arose in the UK’s procurement response to the pandemic—such as the creation of the ‘VIP Lane’ for offers referred by politically-exposed persons or the ‘Ventilator Challenge’ that sought to develop new ventilator prototypes as part of the emergency response—other parts focus on principles of procurement regulation, as well as compared international experiences of emergency procurement during the pandemic. I thus hope the report will be of interest beyond the UK.
The report can be freely downloaded here: Public procurement during emergencies.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity and privilege to present the report and discuss key issues at the Inquiry’s public hearings for the procurement module. The recording of the session is available below.