CL-2022-000676 - [2025] EWHC 2486 (Comm)

Various programmes were urgently put into place by the Government in order to support its response to Covid-19. One of these was the formation of the Government’s “PPE Cell”, a specialist unit reporting to DHSC which was tasked with the operation of a parallel supply chain for the procurement of personal protective equipment (“PPE”) for the NHS. In other words, it operated distinctly from the extant NHS procurement supply chain.

The PPE Cell was formed over the weekend of 20 and 21 March 2020. It comprised a team of commercial professionals, enlisted from a range of government departments and functions (including but not limited to the NHS, industry, and the armed forces), who were tasked with the operation of the parallel supply chain for PPE.

A portal was established on the Gov.uk website at

“https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-support-from-business”, through which offers to supply products and services related to PPE and medical devices could be made (the “PPE Portal”).

At the times material to these proceedings, the PPE Cell included the “Opportunities Team”, the “Technical Assurance Team”, the “Closing Team” and the “Deals Committee”. These were the teams that reviewed the Defendant’s offer to supply sterile surgical gowns in this case. Potentially viable offers for PPE were processed first by the Opportunities Team, then Technical and Closing. Once an offer or proposed contract had successfully passed through all these stages the ultimate authority to approve a PPE Cell procurement contract lay with the Accounting Officers who would take into account, among other matters, the Closing Team’s recommendations.

The Opportunities Team was responsible for contacting a potential supplier, discussing the scope of their offer, gaining a “general perspective” on the “credibility” of the offer, and deciding “whether there was sufficient information to send [the offer] through to the Technical Assurance Team”. They were not technical specialists; they were largely seconded from the Department for Education with some from the Ministry of Defence. They had a basic commercial skillset – enough to deal with prospective suppliers with some understanding of what would be needed for technical approval, to ensure that submissions usually had the right documents.

The Opportunities Team included a team referred to as the “High Priority Lane” (the “HPL”), which was set up in late March 2020 – also referred to in press coverage as “the VIP lane”. The purpose of the HPL was to manage the large number of referrals that were being made outside the PPE Portal by senior officials. It was reserved for referrals from MPs, ministers and senior officials, including those in the NHS. The HPL team would get in touch with those potential suppliers and find out further information from them about their business, their products and offers (which was the same process as that followed by the wider Opportunities Team). Potentially viable offers that came into the PPE Cell through the HPL were also reviewed by the Technical Assurance Team, the Closing Team and the Deals Committee, and had to be approved by the Accounting Officers. Guidance issued to the Opportunities Team produced on 6.5.20 included a “Checklist of required information”. That required the Opportunities Team to check for each of the product types offered:

“• Whether they are CE marked

• Any other certifications they hold

• Confirmation that they meet the specifications supplied by NHS.”

The Guidance (being “reference only”) instructed Opportunity Team members on “How to help progress a good quality submission to the Tech Assurance team”. This entailed submitting a full set of documentation from the supplier to Technical, and was intended to help the Opportunities Team (not technical specialists themselves) understand what Technical will be looking to achieve by reviewing the documentation. The table also stated which documents were required (R) or preferred (P).

According to the table:

If, upon the upward referral of an offer, Technical sought additional information, the Opportunities Team would relay this to the relevant supplier, and the supplier could then provide the information (if available) to the Opportunities Team, who would upload the information to the online portal called “Mendix” directly for onward review. Mendix was where “all the submission documents were saved” and was where the PPE Cell “would record decisions” in relation to PPE offers.

In his evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, DHSC’s Accounting Officer Mr Williams described that the role and responsibility of Technical (as he puts it, “technical review and technical assurance”) was to be clear whether a product did or did not meet technical specifications. If an offer was “accepted”, Technical would indicate this in Mendix. “Accepted” meant that the product appeared “on the documentation submitted” to “be capable of meeting the required standards in the specification”.

Members of Technical “were seconded from the MoD” and “while they might not have worked on PPE or medical devices, many as a part of their role in the MoD were involved in procuring equipment that had to meet technical standards so they had experience in conducting technical appraisals and reviewing documentation against standards”. The role and responsibility of Technical included (i) checking whether a product appeared to have appropriate CE marks and certificates; (ii) verifying the documentation provided by a potential supplier against the regulatory requirements and specification of the product that was being offered; (iii) checking “technical documentation from the potential supplier that demonstrated compliance with the published requirements”; and (iv) comparing the documentation provided by the potential supplier to the list of NHS Technical requirements to see if it did or did not meet the requirements. Thereafter, they would make a decision whether to accept the offer, put it on hold or reject it. An offer would be immediately rejected by Technical “if documents were obviously missing”.

Members of Technical could also, “where there was value” in an offer, “consider an equivalent technical solution instead of losing the offer”. If a submission by a supplier had the potential to meet the requirements of an equivalent technical solution, it would be discussed “at one of the daily technical assurance meetings to seek the wider technical assurance team’s views and to make a decision”.

Once an offer passed through Technical, Closing would negotiate the commercial terms and agreement to contractual terms and conditions before the order could be placed. Closing had to prepare a submissions “pack” for the Deals Committee (also referred to as the PPE Clearance Board), which was made up of senior personnel and chaired by Mr Hall from the Cabinet Office, and which approved offers. There would be a “peer review” before Closing could submit the “pack”.

If a deal passed the Deals Committee, it had to go through DHSC Finance, and then to the Accounting Officer for sign-off. For PPE related procurement, this was David Williams, Director General of the Finance Group Operations and Second Permanent Secretary at the DHSC. For contracts over £100m, Mr Williams had to personally approve DHSC’s entry into contracts (Williams 1, paragraph 4). Following approval by the Accounting Officer, a Purchase Order would be issued, and the contract would be executed.