/ Delivering progress
OUR CAPABILITIES IN
HUMANITARIAN
RESPONSE
Responding to the Ebola crisis in
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone
Our expertise in supply chain management, procurement, global
logistics and more were tested to the full during the West African
Ebola outbreak of 2014/15. Focusing on Sierra Leone, we worked
with donors including the UK and Japanese governments and the
African Union to ensure that their contributions to the fight
against the disease were as effective as possible.
SUPPLIES DELIVERED TO
SIERRA LEONE
>2M
KILOS
On over 130 charter flights to
Lunghi Airport
Our initial call to action came from the UK’s
Department for International Development (DFID)
in September 2014. Our supply chain and
procurement staff worked with our embedded
operations team within DFID’s humanitarian
response department to construct and equip
seven Ebola treatment centres (ETCs). For the
first of these centres we were able to source,
procure and deliver more than 600 vital line items
within 72 hours.
Following the construction of the ETCs, we
partnered with Dutch procurement specialists,
International Procurement Agency (IPA), forming
CAIPA, to oversee the resupply of six of the ETCs
and of the community care centres (CCCs) that
were also being constructed.
The resupply work drew on the input of 42 Crown
Agents and IPA staff, covering a multitude of
disciplines beyond supply chain and
procurement, including IT, data collection,
human resources and finance. The project drew
heavily on our extensive experience in
humanitarian and emergency response and our
capacity to scale up operations quickly and
“With over a century
working in Sierra
Leone and wider West
Africa, Crown Agents
is geared to support
the rebuild of the
affected region.”
A UK EBOLA TREATMENT CENTRE
effectively. Among our expertise called on for the
Ebola response were:
●
The Conflict, Humanitarian and Security
operations team (CHASE OT) embedded within
DFID, to provide humanitarian, coordination,
information and logistics advice.
●
Our complete supply chain and procurement
teams, who designed comprehensive supply
chains and used existing and new relationships
with UK and international suppliers to source all
necessary equipment.
●
Technical health commodity advice, which
allowed us to communicate directly with
manufacturers.
●
Greenshields Cowie, Crown Agents’ wholly
owned logistics and freight forwarding
company, which oversaw the chartering of AN12
freight aircraft flights to fly supply chain items
on a 48 hour rotation.
●
Crown Agents Bank, which provided account
management, disbursement and reporting
services, while minimising the fiduciary risk to
which the DFID funds were exposed.
CROWN AGENTS
FIGHTING EBOLA
Our work
“We remain grateful
for the bravery of the
thousands of
international Ebola
Response Workers
who answered to our
call for action against
the greatest enemy
our country has ever
seen.”
Ernest Bai Koroma
President of Sierra Leone
From the declaration of the end of
the Ebola outbreak, November 2015
SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY
The CAIPA supply chain operations were
underpinned by four strategic pillars:
●
●
●
●
More than
10m
Individual items procured from
over 240 suppliers
Pooled procurement: We pooled the
procurement needs of all of the DFIDsupported ETCs, CCCs, labs and end users,
improving the buying power and ensuring
capacity was sufficient for future demand.
Centralising warehousing closer to end users:
We moved the centralised warehouse location
closer to the end users, in Freetown, to shorten
lead times and be more reactive. The facility
had storage areas for ambient and cold chaincontrolled pharmaceuticals. Buffer stock was
held at a warehouse in Liverpool, UK.
Moving from a push to a pull supply system: In
the early days of the response, each ETC and
CCC received a standard package of items—a
‘push’ system. We quickly established a large
catalogue of items that allowed for a ‘pull’
system to take its place, giving the centres’
managing agents control over what they really
needed and any future needs.
Collecting and analysing supply chain data: We
configured, installed and rolled out
procurement and inventory management
systems and had dedicated data collectors at
each ETC. This identified consumption and
demand patterns and was crucial for avoiding
stock-outs.
TEAM WORK
Crown Agents’ work on the Ebola response has
required careful synchronicity with a range of
other partners. As well as DFID and IPA, we
worked with numerous suppliers and service
providers across the whole supply chain in order
THE GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN
The Government of Japan (GOJ) extended
emergency grant aid totalling US$18 million to
support the Ebola virus outbreak response in
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. A part of this
assistance was aimed at improving the Ebola
response capabilities of the affected countries by
providing pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and
other supplies for treatment centres with the
grant amount of US$4.02 million per country. The
GOJ nominated Crown Agents Japan as a
procurement agent for Sierra Leone to procure
this equipment.
to obtain efficiency and value for money for the
UK government funding. Partners included:
●
Public Health England, which was running the
testing labs, and the Ministry of Defence, which
was running a specialist ETC for treating the
responders to Ebola.
●
Departments of the Government of Sierra
Leone, including the Ministry of Finance, the
Ministry of Health and Sanitation and the
National Ebola Response Centre, to secure
import waivers and secure warehouse space.
●
UN agencies also involved in the response in
Sierra Leone, including the World Food
Programme and the World Health Organisation.
●
Managing agents of the ETCs (DFID-contracted
INGOs) to ensure that the supply chain was fully
attuned to their needs and priorities as the
outbreak progressed.
OUR PEOPLE
CAIPA assembled a multi-disciplined team of
experts from existing staff members and
contracted surge capacity. They were divided into
four teams with specific responsibilities:
procurement; European warehousing and
international freight; data management and
reporting; and in-country warehousing & delivery.
The on-the-ground team in Sierra Leone was a
mixture of international and national experts
working on supply chain operations, data
collection and facilities management.
Underpinning the delivery functions were finance
managers, pharmaceutical specialists, project
administrators and legal advisors.
THE AFRICAN UNION
We signed a contract with the African Union to
provide the organisation with Ebola response
services up to a value of US$24 million.
The this contract highlights the strength of our on
-the-ground network of development
professionals throughout Africa. Our team in
Ethiopia was able to meet with AU representatives
directly and liaise with them on their needs and
priorities. We are currently carrying out
preparatory work on the contract, to begin
operations imminently.
CROWN AGENTS
FIGHTING EBOLA
Our impact
“By strengthening
health systems,
funding vaccine
trials and working
with survivors we are
helping the country
get back on its feet
and prepare for
future crises, so it
can look ahead to a
brighter future.”
Justine Greening
Secretary of State for
International Development,
November 2015
IN NUMBERS
The aim of DFID’s partnership with CAIPA was to
effectively manage the complex processes
behind the provision of robust emergency
medical infrastructure and capabilities. The
volumes and categories of equipment involved in
achieving that can be seen in the large numbers
of contracts placed and items delivered as part
of the supply chains.
LOOKING FORWARD
The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone was officially
declared over on November 7, 2015, 42 days after
the last reported case. Our work in Sierra Leone
has now moved into a new phase that involves
the decommissioning of the ETCs and
repurposing the equipment and infrastructure
improvements for the overall strengthening of the
country’s healthcare.
Between September 2014 and July 2015, CAIPA
procured more than 10 million individual items
from over 240 suppliers including Personal
Protective Equipment (PPE), pharmaceuticals,
laboratory supplies, general equipment and
infrastructure.
Stock surplus is being distributed in Sierra Leone,
in other African countries and potentially in the
UK. We are also looking at the operations of
smaller NGOs and other groups that might be able
to use the medical consumables from the
response.
Procurement of these items resulted in shipping
(air and sea freight) 2,118,548 kilogrammes of
products to Sierra Leone. Working closely with
DFID, the Ministry of Defence and Crown Agents’
in-house freight forwarding provider,
Greenshields Cowie, and IPA’s own logistics arm,
Greenshields & Partners, CAIPA has been
responsible for chartering more than 130 flights
to Sierra Leone, carrying millions of individual
items, from more than 1,500 product lines in a 48
hour rotation.
The supply chains and systems that CAIPA
established will be used for wider health systems
strengthening work, including for the distribution
of free healthcare under a programme run by
DFID, the Government of Sierra Leone and UNICEF.
We’re also supporting Public Health England in
running four labs in Sierra Leone – they were
initially set up within the ETCs because they were
primarily for Ebola testing but since the
decommissioning phase they have been
relocated within Sierra Leone and are taking on a
bigger role in general medical testing.
9 categories. Over 1,500 line items. The vital equipment
that has helped to beat Ebola in Sierra Leone. /
CROWN AGENTS
FIGHTING EBOLA
Our track record
ZIMBABWE: HUMAN RESOURCES FOR HEALTH
RETENTION SCHEME
2008–on going, Multi-donor
We have helped to design a payment and
incentive model to ensure health workers in
Zimbabwe report for work to help deliver essential
healthcare services.
ZAMBIA: REVITALISING ZAMBIA’S CENTRAL
MEDICAL STORES
2004—2013, Government of Zambia
We implemented a series of rapid reforms to
boost employee morale, bring spending under
control, create a flexible ordering and distribution
system and modernise the warehouse facilities.
Since 2008, we have managed disbursements to
over 20,000 health sector workers, giving
employees financial security and improving
health worker attendance from 30% to 90%.
Within five years, we helped double medical stock
availability at a central level, cut distribution costs
by 32% and ensured 95% of deliveries arrive in
time.
ZIMBABWE: HEALTH SERVICES FUND (HSF)
2012—ongoing, UNICEF
We started work on the multi-donor Health
Transition Fund (HTF), as part of the revitalisation
of Zimbabwe’s Health Services Fund, in 2012.
Under the first 28-month phase, we provided fund
management services, targeted technical
assistance and capacity building.
LIBERIA: HEALTH SECTOR RECONSTRUCTION
PROJECT
2008—2009, World Bank / Ministry of Health and
Social Welfare
We carried out timely procurement activities in
compliance with World Bank guidelines. We also
undertook in-service training, consisting of
workshops and on-the-job training and assisted
in the selection and placement of candidates for
overseas training.
In 2014, we transitioned HTF to a Results Based
Financing (RBF) model, rolling out the new model
in eight of Zimbabwe’s ten provinces, supporting
923 rural health centres and hospitals. This work
has included the training of thousands of health
service staff in the new model and building the
Ministry of Health’s capacity for RBF operations.
SOUTH SUDAN: MANAGEMENT OF THE HEALTH
POOLED FUND
2012—2016, DFID / Ministry of Health
SOUTH SUDAN:
We have been implementing the HPF since 2012,
providing mothers and children with access to
quality healthcare across six of the country’s
States and strengthening the Government’s
capacity to move to a country-owned approach.
Our procurement included medical and hospital
support equipment, renovation works and
consultants’ services in the health sector.
NIGERIA: HEALTH COMMODITIES PROJECT (HCP)
DFID, 2005—2009
The £27 million HCP provided essential
equipment, drugs and other commodities to
support primary and secondary healthcare for the
poor in the public and faith-based sectors in
selected states.
We provided complete supply chain management
for the project and prepared and implemented
overall and individual state procurement plans.
We also conducted needs assessments in the
The work has reached 5.2 million people through supported states, reviewing logistics capabilities
approximately 60 contracts designed to support
and actual product requirements, and helped
international and national service providers in 562 strengthen state supply chain management
primary healthcare facilities.
capacity.
CONTACT
Bryan Richmond
Crown Agents
Director, Supply Chain Services
[email protected]
T +44 (0)20 8643 3311
St Nicholas House, St Nicholas Way
Sutton, Surrey SM1 1EL, UK
www.crownagents.co.uk
0116