Mortuary Services

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.

Additional information: Organisations interested in expressing an interest in this procurement should download the procurement documents which are available on the Council`s e-tendering system at: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/readingbc/aspx/Home and complete as instructed.

The Portal is free of charge - to register please follow the supplier registration guidance which is available on the Portal. Contractors wishing to be considered for this tendering opportunity must complete the tender documents and return them electronically via the Council`s e-tendering portal.

Please note: you must register your interest via the Council`s e-tendering portal if you intend to submit a tender. Interested parties must log onto the Council`s e-tendering portal at: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/readingbc, to express an interest and download the procurement documents. All communications regarding this procurement exercise will be conducted through the Council`s e-tendering portal including requests for clarifications or general enquiries. The procurement documents will be available for download up until the closing time and date for tender submissions, it is the organisation`s responsibility to ensure that they download the documents in ample time to ensure that they can be completed and returned electronically, along with supporting documents, prior to the closing time and date stipulated. Before completing the tender, potential providers/suppliers should ensure that the e-mail address that has been used to register their organisation will be checked regularly as the Council`s e-tendering system will generate automatic notifications to this e-mail address when there are updates, changes or messages sent relating to the project. Potential bidders should also check that their organisation`s details are correct and kept up to date.

Technical questions and assistance regarding the use and operation of the Portal should be addressed to the In-Tend Help Desk - e-mail: [email protected], telephone number +44 8442728810.

Is a Recurrent Procurement Type? : No