Official UK procurement notice
C008PA - Body Removal and Storage Service for Colchester and Tendring Area of Essex
Authority: Essex County Council (Local council)
What is being bought2 lots · detail below
Published requirement descriptionEssex County Council (ECC) is responsible for delivering the Coroner Service for the Essex Coroner Area, which encompasses the administrative boundaries of Essex County Council, together with the unitary authorities of Thurrock Council and Southend-on-Sea City Council.
As part of these statutory responsibilities, ECC requires the provision of body removal services within the Colchester and Tendring Areas of Essex. These services are essential to support the effective operation of the Coroner Service, ensuring the timely, dignified, and professional transfer of deceased persons.
The Council has therefore procured specialist service providers with the necessary expertise, capacity, and capability to deliver these services in accordance with legislative requirements and established service standards.
CPV: Funeral and related services
Lots and requirements (2)Procurement structure
2 lots · all with a published value (£180,000 together) · same evaluation weights on every lotLot #1Colchester City Council AreaAwardedRenewalPublished value£120,000
The source published no individual description for this lot.
Lot #2Tendring District Council AreaAwardedRenewalPublished value£60,000
The source published no individual description for this lot.
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (3)
- Technical Quality: 35%
- quality: 5%
- price: 60%
Published award criteria (3)
- price: the contract rate
- Technical Quality: responses to quality questions
- quality: response to Social Value criteria
- Price carries 60 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 6 points. This one is won on the number: sharpen the price before polishing the prose.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 27 Jun 2025, 12:02 BST
- Last source update
- 5 Jun 2026, 19:24 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 2 Feb 2026
- Authority reference
C008PA- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-072494- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-055500Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 8 Dec 2025, 12:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 21 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Selection of tenderers will be based solely on the criteria set out for the procurement.
For this tender the Authority will be using the ProContract (aka Due North) eSourcing portal procontract.due-north.com ↗ throughout the procurement process, and all communications with Essex County Council relating to this procurement exercise must be via the portal's messaging system.
Supplier registration on the portal is free of charge and can be done via: procontract.due-north.com ↗
The reference and title of this procurement in ProContract DN778344 C008PC Body Removal Colchester and Tendring
Project information -
It is recommended that any Bidder not already registered on the ProContract eSourcing portal, register at the earliest opportunity.
The Authority reserves the right to amend timescales for any reason and change the assessment criteria where necessary for example if there are genuine omissions or mistakes. The Authority also reserves the right to cancel the procurement exercise and/or not to award all or part of a contract. The Authority will not be responsible for any costs incurred by bidders in relation to this procurement exercise.
Timeline
27 Jun 2025 → 5 Jun 2026 · 10 dates- Planning notice published27 Jun 2025, 12:02 BST
- Market engagement1 Aug 2025, 23:59 BST
The Authority wishes to invite interested parties to complete a market engagement questionnaire using Microsoft forms.
A link to the microsoft form will be included within the documents that will be published on Procontract, the Councils e-tendering system. Responses to this market engagement can only be submitted via Procontract.
ECC uses an e-tendering system, ProContract and you will need to create an account on ProContract to access and respond to both this market engagement exercise and to bid for any future opportunities issued by ECC, including this Body Removal Contract. Please visit procontract.due-north.com/Register ↗ to register an account. It is free to register and use the system.
If you have any questions regarding this exercise, please submit them via the ProContract Portal and we will reply to your questions as soon as possible.
We look forward to your participation and contributions.
- Next notice expected1 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
- Tender notice published344 days ago10 Nov 2025, 15:09 GMT
- Clarification questions by332 days ago21 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT
- Submission deadline316 days ago8 Dec 2025, 12:00 GMT
- Assessment summaries sent286 days ago7 Jan 2026
- Award decision expected by259 days ago2 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts202 days ago1 Apr 2026, 00:00 BST
- Latest notice published136 days ago5 Jun 2026, 19:24 BST
Notice history
12 events · 6 releases on Find a Tender · since 27 Jun 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published27 Jun 2025, 12:02 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published23 Jul 2025, 12:57 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published31 Jul 2025, 13:21 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published10 Nov 2025, 15:09 GMTUK4
- Published value published: £180,00010 Nov 2025, 15:09 GMT
- Status changed to active10 Nov 2025, 15:09 GMT
- Procurement method changed10 Nov 2025, 15:09 GMT
- Deadline published: 8 Dec 2025, 12:00 GMT10 Nov 2025, 15:09 GMT
- Contract award notice published7 Jan 2026, 16:10 GMTUK6
- Status changed to complete7 Jan 2026, 16:10 GMT
- Contract signature expected26 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMTscheduled
- Contract details notice published5 Jun 2026, 19:24 BSTUK7
Published amendments (2)
the submission date has been changed to 31st July 2025
the submission date for responses is now 1700 1st August 2025
Routine re-releases (6)
- 2025-07: 2 releases · 23 Jul 2025, 31 Jul 2025
- 2025-06: 1 release · 27 Jun 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lot 1 · Colchester City Council Area1 award | |||
| The Hunnaball Family Group LimitedSME1 Apr 2026 – 31 Mar 2028 · up to 31 Mar 2031Extensions: The Agreement term for this agreement with be 2 years. The initial term will be from 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2028 with the option of an extension for a further three years. The Authority may at its sole discretion extend the Contract Term by such period as it may specify in written notice given not less than 3 months prior to the expiry of the Contract Term (as extended from time to time) and may do so on as many occasions as it shall think fit provided that such extensions shall not exceed 36 months in total. The decision to extend the Agreement with is at the sole discretion of Essex County Council. | £120,000 | 23 Dec 2025 | Awarded |
| Lot 2 · Tendring District Council Area1 award | |||
| The Hunnaball Family Group LimitedSME1 Apr 2026 – 31 Mar 2028 · up to 31 Mar 2031Extensions: The Agreement term for this agreement with be 2 years. The initial term will be from 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2028 with the option of an extension for a further three years. The Authority may at its sole discretion extend the Contract Term by such period as it may specify in written notice given not less than 3 months prior to the expiry of the Contract Term (as extended from time to time) and may do so on as many occasions as it shall think fit provided that such extensions shall not exceed 36 months in total. The decision to extend the Agreement with is at the sole discretion of Essex County Council. | £60,000 | 23 Dec 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
Lot 1A - Colchester City Council Area · The Hunnaball Family Group LimitedSME
- Signed
- 25 Feb 2026
- Value
- £120,000
- Period
- 1 Apr 2026 – 31 Mar 2028 · up to 31 Mar 2031 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- The Contract is for an initial term of two (2) years, with the provision for an extension of up to a further three (3) years. The Authority reserves the right, at its discretion, to extend the Agreement by issuing written notice to the Contractor no later than three (3) months prior to the expiry of the current Contract Term, specifying the length of the extension.
4 agreed KPIs: Arrival at scene within 1 hour of receiving call from police · Delivery to hospital within 3 hours of arriving at scene · Security breaches …
- Arrival at scene within 1 hour of receiving call from police, The Contractor shall be available 24 hours per day and 365 days per year to attend to the removal of a body or bodies and shall attend within a maximum of one (1) hour from receipt of any request from the Police. TARGET: 95%
- Delivery to hospital within 3 hours of arriving at scene, All bodies removed by the Contractor must be received and accepted into the Storage Location within three (3) hours from the receipt of any request from the Police. TARGET: 95%
- Security breaches, The Contractor must ensure that the deceased is securely stored from collection to hand over to the storage location. Any incidents were there is unauthorised access to the deceased is considered to be a security breach. TARGET: 0
- Deceased transfer completed with identification requirements met., The contracted funeral director is required to label the deceased with at least three points of identification, including a unique identifier, upon collecting and transferring of the deceased to the storage location. All deceased must have the correct identification of arrival at new storage location to ensure that the transfer is completed and the deceased is accepted. TARGET: 100%
Lot 1B : Tendring District Council Area · The Hunnaball Family Group LimitedSME
- Signed
- 25 Feb 2026
- Value
- £60,000
- Period
- 1 Apr 2026 – 31 Mar 2028 · up to 31 Mar 2031 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- The Agreement shall be awarded for an initial term of two (2) years, with the provision for an extension of up to a further three (3) years. The Authority reserves the right, at its discretion, to extend the Agreement by issuing written notice to the Contractor no later than three (3) months prior to the expiry of the current Contract Term, specifying the length of the extension.
4 agreed KPIs: Arrival at scene within 1 hour of receiving call from police · Delivery to hospital within 3 hours of arriving at scene · Security Breaches …
- Arrival at scene within 1 hour of receiving call from police, The Contractor shall be available 24 hours per day and 365 days per year to attend to the removal of a body or bodies and shall attend within a maximum of one (1) hour from receipt of any request from the Police. TARGET: 95%
- Delivery to hospital within 3 hours of arriving at scene, All bodies removed by the Contractor must be received and accepted into the Storage Location within three (3) hours from the receipt of any request from the Police. TARGET: 95%
- Security Breaches, The Contractor must ensure that the deceased is securely stored from collection to hand over to the storage location. Any incidents were there is unauthorised access to the deceased is considered to be a security breach. TARGET: 0% breach
- Deceased transfer completed with identification requirements met., The contracted funeral director is required to label the deceased with at least three points of identification, including a unique identifier, upon collecting and transferring of the deceased to the storage location. All deceased must have the correct identification of arrival at new storage location to ensure that the transfer is completed and the deceased is accepted. TARGET: 100%
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Lot | Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Colchester City Council Area | 3final-stage tenders | 3 | 0 | — |
| 2 · Tendring District Council Area | 3final-stage tenders | 3 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- THE HUNNABALL FAMILY FUNERAL GROUP LIMITEDAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (10)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specifications
- Bidding documents and specifications • PSQ (PDF version) • Bidder Guidance • Specification • Terms and Conditions • Pricing Matrix • APRS Declaration form • Appendix 1 - Risk (If Used) • Appendix 2 - Contract Area and list of Parishes • Appendix 3 - Key Performance Indicators and Performance Reporting • Appendix 4…
Notices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender