[Blog] UK procurement policy: going it alone in a crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of global supply chains and the need for robust public procurement policy and procedures. PPE and ventilators Recent events suggest that the current UK healthcare procurement system may not be agile enough to meet UK COVID-19 responses. Media reports indicate that the UK participated in a number of EU health security committee meetings dedicated to COVID-19 as the magnitude of the epidemic in China emerged. Both the muddled response from the UK government on its reasons for not participating in the EU scheme for PPE and ventilators, and Michael Gove’s comment on the Andrew Marr Show on 29 March 2020, that the UK was now an “independent nation” reveal an implicit and explicit attempt for the UK to go it alone in healthcare procurement