Collection of Deceased and Delivery to Mortuaries for the South London Coroners Service and Public Funerals

The London Borough of Croydon will shortly be issuing an Invitation to Tender (ITT) on (insert date) for the following two contracts that will run from the 1st September 2025 to the 31st August 2030:

Coroners Body Removals for the South London coroner jurisdiction comprising the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon and Sutton

The coroner is a special judge who investigates unnatural or violent deaths, where the cause of death is unknown, or because the death took place in prison, police custody or another type of state detention, such as a mental health hospital. The investigation may include an inquest hearing. The coroner’s role is to find out who died and how, when and where they died. In some cases, it is necessary to hold a post mortem examination to find out the cause of death. If the deceased died in the community the body must be transported to the coroner’s mortuary for the post mortem examination, or transferred to a specialist post mortem facility and this contract provides for this service. There are two lots:

Lot 1 (West – Croydon and Sutton): to collect deceased in the community, or from hospital and transport to either Croydon University Hospital or Princess Royal University Hospital, Farnborough.

Lot 2 (East – Bexley and Bromley): to collect deceased in the community, or from hospital and transport to St Helier Hospital, Carshalton, Surrey.

Public Health Funerals

Lot 3: The Council has a statutory duty under the provisions of Section 46 of the Public Health (Control of Disease ) Act 1984 to undertake the funeral of a deceased person, who died in the Borough and where no other arrangements have been made or are about to be made. The Council will be seeking to appoint a single Funeral Director to make all the necessary arrangements and to provide a dignified funeral in all such cases.

These two contract (3 Lots) will be of interest to suitably experienced Funeral Directors and transportation providers who will have the necessary trained staff, vehicles and equipment to carry out these vital public service functions. Tenderers may apply for 1, 2 or all 3 lots, and may be awarded 1, 2 or all 3 lots.

If you would like an informal discussion about these two contracts please call Giles Adey, Interim Head of Coroner Service on 07927 326030 or email him at [email protected]. Any such discussions must be concluded by 30th April 2025 as no discussions are permitted during the formal tendering process.

To apply for these contracts, you must have first registered on the council’s e-procurement portal. If you require assistance in using the portal please contact the Support Helpdesk by contacting the e-Sourcing Portal Helpdesk:[email protected] or 0845 557 8079 / +44 (0) 114 407 0065

The Council is intending to procure via the Open Tender Procedure in accordance with the Procurement Act 23. This pre-market engagement is being carried out in accordance with the Procurement Act rules on Pre-Market Engagement (including Regulation 16).

Disclaimer

The information in this document is solely for the purposes of a soft market testing exercise and no representation, warranty, or undertaking is given by the Council as to its accuracy or completeness, and the Council accepts no liability in relation to it.

The Council reserves the right to, at its discretion:

(a) to change this document and/or the process for the soft market testing exercise;

(b) to proceed or not with a subsequent procurement.

Any subsequent procurement will be separate. Neither participation (or otherwise) in this exercise nor any information supplied will advantage or disadvantage any person in such procurement.

No expense in responding to soft market testing will be reimbursed by the Council.

The Council will not treat as confidential any information submitted in response to the Exercise, and respondents should note that the Council is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and may be obliged to disclose responses under that Act.