Rejected petition Welsh Government to source all Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) from companies based in Wales.

At the beginning of the most recent pandemic (Covid 19) there was a lack of PPE equipment for Care Homes and Hospitals and many local companies stood up to the plate to provide it directly. Due to the world wide need of PPE equipment, it was difficult to source the product from abroad, with this only being achieved eventually with costly imports and delays. By sourcing locally, there will be adequate protection for our key workers immediately available to save lives.

Why was this petition rejected?

It’s about something that the Senedd or Welsh Government is not responsible for.

As this petition relates to the purchase of goods by the Welsh Government, the rules of procurement need to be considered.

The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 apply to any procurement activity undertaken by a public body (such as the Welsh Government) in relation to contracts for goods, works or services above specified financial thresholds.

Where the PCR 2015 applies, the relevant public body is required to “treat all economic operators [bidders] equally and without discrimination” (reg 18(1)). Further, a procurement must not be designed “with the intention of … artificially narrowing competition”, which means having “the intention of unduly favouring or disadvantaging certain economic operators” (regs 18(2) and (3)).

As such, it is not currently possible to run a procurement for “Welsh-only suppliers”.

For the reasons outlined above, the petition is inadmissible.

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards

Rejected petitions are published in the language in which they were submitted