Contract for the Provision of Coroner's Post Mortems

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This is an Award Notice. Hertfordshire County Council have awarded a contract for the Provision of Coroner's Post Mortems. There is no competition for this service. Deceased bodies referred to the Hertfordshire Coroner must remain within their jurisdiction until officially released by the Hertfordshire Coroner. Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) is relying on Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 in making this award without prior publication. Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) permits such an award where competition is absent for technical reasons. The Local Authority has a statutory duty to provide a Coroner Service for the community of Hertfordshire. As part of the Coroner's duties, he/she must establish a cause of death if none has been provided by the signing/authorising medical practitioner. To facilitate post-mortem examinations Hertfordshire County Council has contracts with local NHS Hospital mortuaries. There are 3 NHS Hospital mortuaries within Hertfordshire (or close to the Hertfordshire border) that provide post-mortem services to the Coroner Service. Currently, one mortuary would not be able to manage the volume of post-mortems requested by Hertfordshire so we need more than one contract to cover this requirement. The direct award value of £980,000 reflects the total estimated value that will be awarded over the whole term of the contract between the three NHS trusts receiving the direct award. The £980,000 will not be equally divided between the three NHS trusts but will be awarded based on volume of deceased sent to each NHS trust for coronial post-mortem examination each month. Reg 32(2)(b) states that a procurement is not required where a service can only be supplied by a particular economic operator ENHT, WHHT and PAH in this case because "competition is absent for technical reasons".

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