The HSE is looking to spend €750,000 on condoms and lubricant, according to a notification posted on Government procurement platform, eTenders.
According to the tender documents, the HSE wants to establish a contract for the “supply and replenishment of branded condom packets including regular condoms and sachets of water-based, scent and paraben free lubricant”.
The estimated value of the contract is €750,000.
It would require the delivery of approximately 1,390,000 branded condom packets per year,
including a regular condom in each, to a HSE storage facility in Co. Waterford, alongside 890,000 5ml “water-based, scent and paraben free lubrication sachets”.
The contract comes under the HSE’s ‘Sexual Health Programme’ (SHP), which is a priority programme for the HSE and is responsible for the implementation of the National Sexual Health Strategy 2025–2035.
The SHP established the National Condom Distribution Service (NCDS) in late 2015, which has primary responsibility for the distribution of condoms and lubricant sachets to HSE services and to other organisations, that the HSE describes as working directly with “individuals and groups who may be at increased risk of negative sexual health outcomes and unplanned pregnancy”.
The NCDS also supplies condoms and lubricant sachets for promotional campaigns and “educational initiatives”.
The tender documents note that since 2015, the NCDS has distributed more than 7.4 million condoms and 4.2 million lubricant sachets to “organisations engaged in sexual health promotion work”.