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TPPL Update – Coronavirus (COVID-19)

20 March 2020

On Tuesday afternoon all head office staff were sent to work from home remotely, and we would like to reassure members TPPL are still operating at full capacity. Whilst this migration happened seamlessly in most areas, we have experienced issues with our telephone system and the call forwarding functionality. Therefore, to contact a member of the team please call the individuals DDI or main office number (01954 250517) and you will be met with a voice message providing the mobile number for the individual you need to reach. Alternatively, please send an email to enquiries@tppl.co.uk for an immediate response or call back.

We appreciate that like us, you are probably inundated with supplier status messages at the moment, and concerns being raised from the people and industries you serve as to how your service is being affected today, and the knock on affects for the future.

Fleet Manufacturer closures

The following manufacturers have announced closure to manufacturing plants across Europe. The length of closures are being touted as between 1-4 weeks at this time.

  • Ford
  • Peugeot
  • Citroen
  • Vauxhall
  • Volkswagen
  • Mini
  • BMW
  • Toyota
  • Nissan

What happens with member procurements?

Feedback from suppliers suggests they still have the ability to submit tender responses to procurements issued, however lead times will inevitably be affected for any factory order products not available from stock. Please be mindful of anticipated requests for extension to tender deadlines, and factor in sufficient time to allow bidders to respond on any new procurements.

If you have tenders which are still under evaluation awaiting award, we advise a clarification on the lead times submitted against the tender to allow for re-evaluation if necessary. For tenders already awarded awaiting orders to be confirmed, we are recommending members progress these where possible to avoid further delays to delivery lead times. This will ensure orders are will be processed sooner when manufacturing does eventually commence.

As you will be aware, CCS have issued a Procurement Policy Note (PPN) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which essentially states authorities may need to procure goods, services and works with extreme urgency. Authorities are permitted to do this using regulation 32(2)(c) under the Public Contract Regulations 2015. Regulation 32(2)(c) allows for authorities to procure goods using accelerated methods i.e. direct award, due to extreme urgency caused as a result of the unforeseen situation.

Supplier solutions for contingency

Should members wish to obtain details of solutions suppliers are offering to provide contingency during these unprecedented times please get in touch with us.

The Rental industry is being utilised to provide vehicles to frontline services, and we have already had several suppliers advise they are able to assist with expedited processes to get vehicles to the frontline with urgency. These messages have come with the advice that rental suppliers could potentially be forced to close their doors in the near future, as has happened across Europe.

Building material suppliers are providing products to members for use in emergency situations, following difficulty of obtaining building materials due to closures and skeleton staffing levels across many building merchants. One such product is an unmanned emergency pop-up stores solution provided by Buildbase & Grafton Supply Chain Solutions.

Members can contact enquiries@tppl.co.uk should they have an urgent need for any of these solutions.

Find out more by reading the Cabinet Office Procurement Policy notice on responding to COVOID-19.