Mortuary Services

Tender description

The purpose of this PIN is to give advance notice that Reading Borough Council intend to arrange contracts for Mortuary and Post Mortem services on behalf of HM Senior Coroner Berkshire. This contract will be to provide mortuary and post mortem facilities within the Coroner's jurisdictional area where bodies can be stored and accessed as is deemed appropriate for the effective running of the Coroner's service. The mortuary should be appropriately equipped and able to meet anticipated demand and include the facilities necessary to conduct post mortem services. In summary the following services and facilities will be required for: o the receipt and storage of bodies; o pathologists to perform post mortems; o forensic pathologists to undertake post mortems in cases where criminal charges may arise; o the identification and viewing of bodies by relatives and friends, taking into account their emotional and cultural needs; o 24/7 controlled access; o maintenance of appropriate contact between HM Senior Coroners office and mortuary staff; o provision of suitably qualified support staff. Contracts are expected to commence on 1/4/2020 and run for a period of 3 years with the option to extend by up to 48 months in total (maximum of 7 years) subject to satisfactory services and continued demand. The estimated value of the contract over the full term of 7 years is ?2,600,000. The council intends to award contracts to the incumbent providers without further publication, unless expressions of interest are received from alternative economic operators. Organisations who wish to express an interest are expected to have demonstrate recent contract experience of delivering similar services to other local areas. Organisations who believe they fulfil the experience requirements are asked to notify the Council of their interest with a brief summary of their organisational experience and capability by 5pm on 20 September 2019, submitted using the Council's E-tendering system. If the Council decides that there is sufficient interest from suitable qualified and experienced suppliers we may decide to proceed with a procurement exercise via further advertisement.