The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has launched a preliminary market engagement exercise aimed at strengthening the United Kingdom’s pandemic preparedness by assessing the nation’s personal protective equipment (PPE) manufacturing capabilities.
Published on 1 June 2026, the initiative seeks to gather information from both existing PPE manufacturers and organisations that could potentially pivot their operations to produce PPE during future public health emergencies. The exercise forms part of the Government’s wider Pandemic Preparedness Strategy and reflects lessons learned from supply chain disruptions experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the pandemic, unprecedented global demand for PPE exposed vulnerabilities within international supply chains, highlighting the importance of resilient domestic manufacturing capacity and the ability to rapidly scale production when required.
Through this engagement, DHSC aims to gain a clearer understanding of current manufacturing capabilities, production volumes, lead times, supply chain constraints, and the challenges organisations may face when increasing output during a pandemic surge. The department is also interested in hearing from businesses that previously supplied PPE or attempted to transition into PPE manufacturing during the COVID-19 response.
The information collected will help policymakers better understand the UK’s industrial readiness and identify opportunities to improve national resilience. Participants will be asked to complete a detailed questionnaire outlining their current capabilities, scalability, operational requirements, and potential barriers to production expansion.
Importantly, DHSC has emphasised that this exercise is for information-gathering purposes only and does not represent the start of a formal procurement process. However, the findings may influence future policy decisions and inform the design of potential future procurement opportunities.
The engagement is specifically targeted at organisations with established or near-operational manufacturing processes that could rapidly scale or pivot production in response to a future pandemic. Businesses developing early-stage or experimental technologies are encouraged to pursue alternative innovation funding routes, such as the Government’s Biosecurity Frontiers programme.
Responses are being accepted until 30 June 2026, after which DHSC may conduct follow-up discussions, one-to-one meetings, or roundtable sessions with selected respondents to further explore manufacturing capabilities and preparedness strategies.
As governments around the world continue to strengthen health security measures, this engagement represents an important step in ensuring that the UK maintains a robust and responsive PPE supply chain capable of supporting healthcare and social care services during future emergencies.
Find the direct link to the Gov.uk website here!
