Some independent suppliers of Personal Protective Equipment to the health service in Northern Ireland increased prices by up to eight times after the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, according to a report published today.
The Northern Ireland Audit Office says that in the early months the average cost increases for gowns was 957%, while the cost of Type IIR masks increased by 1,314%.
It says the Business Services Organisation Procurement and Logistics Service (BSO PaLS), an independent agency of Stormont's Department of Health which purchased virtually all of the equipment, spent £24.8m per month during the pandemic.
Nearly £400m of equipment was purchased between January 2020 and April 2021, compared with £3m spent during the whole of 2019, with the number of PPE items each month increasing by 429%.
The report says that faced with hugely increased global demand and supply constraints, BSO PaLS struggled to build sustainable stocks of PPE equipment.
There were only enough supplies to last a week or less in the early stages of the pandemic in March 2020. In contrast, by July last year enough supplies were stockpiled to last between 26 and 71 weeks.
To accelerate supply, a huge proportion of the equipment was purchased by Direct Award Contracts, without any tendering process.
The Audit Office said the widespread use of emergency procurement regulations and the ability to award contracts without competition proved critical in helping ensure that the hugely increased volumes and new types of PPE required were secured "albeit at a considerable cost".
"To avoid having to excessively use such contracts in the future, local procuring authorities need to consider how supply chain resilience can be strengthened and made more flexible to address any significant future increase In demand, not only for PPE, but for other goods and services for which demand could increase significantly and suddenly," it added.
Northern Ireland's Comptroller and Auditor General Kieran Donnelly said he wanted to pay tribute to all those involved in the immense task of responding to the pandemic.
But he said it was important that lessons are learned from his report.
"In addition to the need for improved contingency and emergency planning to avoid a repetition of any supply shortages, there should have been less reliance on uncompetitive procurement processes, better controls for managing potential conflicts of interest, and more comprehensive documenting of decisions over high cost procurements," he added.
"It is also important that there is greater clarity over long-term procurement and funding arrangements for PPE provision to the independent care sector."
Stormont's Department of Health has welcomed the report, which it said highlighted "the enormous challenges that faced the health service at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic."
In a statement, it welcomed the tribute from the Comptroller and Auditor General to the efforts of those working on PPE procurement during the pandemic.
