The UK Government announced on 15 December 2021 that the Rt Hon Baroness Heather Hallett DBE will be Chair of the upcoming public inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic. In the New Year, the panelists to sit alongside Baroness Hallett are due to be appointed.

These unusual and uncertain times call for rare and exceptional measures – that is the message emanating from recent guidance published by both the UK Cabinet Office and the European Commission on public procurement during the current COVID-19 crisis. Both sets of guidance provide advice to contracting authorities on the…