Tender

Body Removal and Storage Colchester and Tendring areas of Essex

Essex County Council

UK4: Tender notice - Procurement Act 2023 - view information about notice types

Notice identifier: 2025/S 000-072494

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-055500 (view related notices)

Published 10 November 2025, 3:09pm

Scope

Reference

C008PC

Description

Delivery of body removal services in the Colchester and Tendring areas of Essex.

Essex County Council (ECC) is responsible for providing the Coroner Service for the Essex

Coroner Area which includes the administrative areas of Essex County Council and the

unitary authorities (Thurrock Council and Southend City Council).

In support of this work, ECC must provide body removal services splitting the county into 6

geographical areas.

Page 2 to 5

We are wishing to engage on an opportunity for re-tendering a contract to cover body

removal in the Colchester and Tendring Districts. We are inviting responses from the market

to support Essex County Council to design a tender which will meet our requirements and

provide best value for the residents of Essex.

The closing date for responses is 5pm on 24 July 2025.

The current estimated publication date for the tender is September 2025 with a provisional

contract award date during December 2025. The contract start date will be April 1st, 2026.

This notice is intended as an awareness, communication and information gathering exercise.

Participation is no indication of a commitment to partake in any future tendering process nor

does it infer any preferential or special status on those individuals and organisations who

participate.

Please also note that this notice is not intended as a call for competition and as such you will

need to express your interest in any future tender opportunity once the tender notice is

published.

You are also advised to ensure your data on the Central Digital Platform is maintained up to

date.

Please also note the following with regard to the potential impact of Local Government

Reform (LGR) and Devolution to this project.

The contracting authority is Essex County Council and any Successor Body meaning one or

more entities which assumes any of the Council's functions (as applicable) as a result of

Local Government Reform (LGR). Such successor body or bodies may be, without limitation,

a local authority, a combined authority, a combined county authority, a strategic authority or

any other status determined pursuant to the Devolution and LGR Legislation.

Total value (estimated)

£180,000 excluding VAT
£180,000 including VAT

Above the relevant threshold

Contract dates (estimated)

1 April 2026 to 31 March 2028
Possible extension to 31 March 2031
5 years

Description of possible extension:

14.1 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.

Main procurement category

Services

CPV classifications

98370000 - Funeral and related services

Contract locations

UKH3 - Essex

Lot 1A (was 1). Colchester City Council Area

Description

Provision of Body Removal in this area

Lot value (estimated)

£120,000 excluding VAT
£120,000 including VAT

Same for all lots

CPV classifications, contract locations and contract dates are shown in the Scope section, because they are the same for all lots.

Lot 1B. Tendring District Council Area

Description

Provision of body removal services in the Tendring District Council Area

Lot value (estimated)

£60,000 excluding VAT
£60,000 including VAT

Same for all lots

CPV classifications, contract locations and contract dates are shown in the Scope section, because they are the same for all lots.

Participation

Particular suitability

Lot 1A (was 1). Colchester City Council Area

Lot 1B. Tendring District Council Area

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)

Submission

Enquiry deadline

21 November 2025, 11:59pm

Tender submission deadline

8 December 2025, 12:00pm

Submission address and any special instructions

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 https://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: https://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.

Tenders may be submitted electronically

Yes

Languages that may be used for submission

English

Award decision date (estimated)

2 February 2026

Award criteria

This table contains award criteria for this lot
Name	Description	Type	Weighting
price	the contract rate	Price	60%
Technical Quality	responses to quality questions	Quality	35%
quality	response to Social Value criteria	Quality	5%

Other information

Conflicts assessment prepared/revised

Yes

Procedure

Procedure type

Open procedure

Documents

Associated tender documents