Government reportedly told institutions to lend equipment to company it awarded £133 million Covid-testing contract
The government asked universities to hand over equipment to diagnostics company Randox soon after awarding the firm a £133 million Covid-19 testing contract, according to The Sunday Times.
Documents seen by the newspaper reveal that officials had agreed to help the company source equipment “if they [were] short or struggling to get it”, which it said emerged to be the case within days of awarding the contract last spring.
The documents said the then health secretary Matt Hancock would “send a letter to universities asking for loans of the various things we need”, and that No 10 would then call vice-chancellors following up on the letter.
NHS Test and Trace criticism
The revelations, published by the newspaper on 7 November came after the Public Accounts Committee condemned the “muddled”, “overstated” and “eye-wateringly expensive” NHS Test and trace system set up during the pandemic.
It also follows criticisms last year of government’s approach to centralise testing and award contracts to the private sector instead or relying on public sector and university labs for testing.
“Some diagnostics experts were making the case at that time for university laboratories to take on a larger share of the responsibility for analysing tests,” The Sunday Times reports. “However, the official explained that campuses would have to give up testing resources and send them to Randox.”
Research Professional News has approached Randox for comment.
A spokesperson is quoted telling The Sunday Times: “At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a sudden and urgent global demand for testing equipment and diagnostics support, so the government’s temporary help at that time was vital for all Pillar 2 laboratories in scaling up quickly and efficiently. All such equipment has been returned.”
It added that it had won government contracts “on merit”.
‘Robust rules and processes’
A government spokesperson said: “In building the largest diagnostic industry in UK history, NHS Test and Trace has drawn on expertise from across the public and private sectors. So far, over 323 million tests delivered and almost 20 million people contacted who could otherwise have unknowingly transmitted the virus.
“There are robust rules and processes in place in order to ensure that conflicts of interest do not occur and all contracts are awarded in line with procurement regulations and transparency guidelines.”
The vice-chancellors’ group, Universities UK, declined to comment.