The provision of inpatient and outpatient healthcare services and hospital capacity as part of the response to the Covid-19 Pandemic in England. The contracts covered by this contract award notice are short term awards for 3 months that NHS England awarded pursuant to ministerial direction to enable NHS commissioners across England to make arrangements for additional capacity in response to the Omicron variant to Covid-19.

Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union in the cases listed below
• Extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable for the contracting authority and in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the directive
Explanation:
The organisations listed in this notice provide a mix of NHS funded and/or private health services and had capacity to provide inpatient, outpatient and critical care to ensure that the NHS would have sufficient capacity to meet the potential demand of the Omicron variant to the Covid-19 Pandemic. The urgent need for these 3 month contracts to be awarded to the listed providers to ensure service continuity to the NHS patients through Quarter 4 of the financial year 2020/21 only became apparent during December 2021 as the combination (and potential impact) of the following became fully evident:
• rapid rise in infection rates and hospitalisations as a result of the novel Omicron variant to Covid-19;
• the likelihood of a surge in hospitalisations following a Christmas and New Year period with no limitations on social distancing;
• length of time it would take CCGs and Trusts to put in place contracts following competitive procurement processes whether under the Increasing Capacity Framework or otherwise.
NHS England awarded these contracts pursuant to ministerial direction from the Secretary State for Health and Social Care dated 8 January 2022.