Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2018-02-22
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, C&C, Other
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 71900000
Estimated value: 300000 GBP
Submission deadline: 2018-03-27
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), Commemorative casework team are responsible for co-ordinating efforts to establish the identity of historic human remains recovered from battlefields and aircraft crash sites involving British service personnel and arranging a fitting burial. DNA analysis may be required to assist with confirming the identities of the remains where other methods have proved inconclusive. Genealogy services may also be required to assist in the identification process. The contract will be for the provision of DNA and Genealogy services.
The Contractor must be complaint with the Forensic Science Society, ISO/IEC 17025:2017, ISO9001:2000 or other appropriate equivalent industry standards.
— undertake DNA profiling of the Y chromosome, to access the paternal lineage and mitochondrial DNA to determine the maternal lineage of human remains such a as bone and/or tissue samples (within 1 month of receiving a sample for Y and 2 months for mitochondrial);
— provide advice on best possible living source of DNA profile for comparison purposes and genealogy if required;
— provide DNA sampling kits to individuals who volunteer to provide a sample for comparison purposes;
— retest samples at the request of the Authority and make recommendations as to alternative scientific methods to obtain DNA profiles for comparison where said profiles cannot initially be obtained.
The contractor must ensure that remains are handled in accordance with worldwide legislation and regulations, including data protection requirements.
The contractor may be required to visit the location (in Europe, Asia, North America and Africa) where the recovered remains are held.
The number of cases will vary depending on the number of remains recovered and therefore it is not possible to say how many cases the Authority will require the Contractor to undertake, however as a guide there have been 15 cases in the last 12 months. The contractor will be requested to undertake cases as required on a call- off basis.
No business whatsoever is guaranteed under any resulting framework agreement or contract indeed there is no guarantee that any framework agreement or contract will be put in place in relation to this notice. No compensation etc. will be paid if a tender or resulting framework agreement is withdrawn for any reason. Bidders should take part in this process only on the basis that they fully understand and accept this position.
An option will be included for the Authority at its discretion to extend beyond the 2 year contract in monthly or annual increments up to an additional 24 months.
A financial assessment will be undertaken on the supplier's financial status. An overall pass/fail judgement will be made considering areas such as turnover, profit, net assets, liquidity, gearing and capacity. This assessment will include the Parent company where applicable. An independent financial assessment obtained from a reputable credit rating organisation may be utilised as part of this process.
Suppliers are required to complete a Suitability assessment questionnaire (SAQ) which contains all the mandatory suitability and technical standards that are required to perform the contract.
Any resultant contract will be subject to the conditions detailed in the draft HOCS4/00012 Contract document, which uses MOD Standardised contracting template SC2. As well as containing General conditions, it contains conditions relating to supply of contract deliverables, Licences and intellectual property, Pricing and payment, Termination, Framework agreements, Cyber security, Contract price and delivery. Specific Conditions include:
TUPE – It is the supplier’s responsibility to consider whether or not TUPE applies to this re-let and to tender accordingly. Notwithstanding this, supplier’s may wish to note that it is the Authority’s view that TUPE is unlikely to be applicable as the contractor currently undertaking this task, LGC Ltd, has informed the Authority that no employees are in scope for transfer. The Authority shall not be liable for this opinion and it remains the supplier’s responsibility to ensure that their tender takes full account of all the relevant circumstances of this contract re-let.


Award value: 300000