Notice to the Profession: Memo from Dr. Dirk Huyer Chief Coroner for Ontario – Body Transportation Services Request for Responses

The Bereavement Authority of Ontario is sharing this memo from the Chief Coroner for Ontario Dr. Dirk Huyer. 
………………………   

November 18, 2021

MEMORANDUM TO: 
All Licensed Funeral Establishments and
Transfer Service Operators      

FROM:
Dirk Huyer, MD
Chief Coroner for Ontario

RE: Posting of Body Transportation Services Request for Responses 

In keeping with our intention to comply with the Government of Ontario’s Procurement Directive regarding body transportation services, I am writing to advise you that a Request for Responses (RFR) for the provision of body transportation services performed on behalf of the Office of the Chief Coroner and Ontario Forensic Pathology Service (OCC/OFPS) is now available on the Ontario Tenders Portal (OTP) eTendering System. 

The OCC/OFPS investigates deaths pursuant to the Coroners Act and are seeking to create a roster of licensed Funeral Establishments and Transfer Service Operators to provide body transportation services throughout the province of Ontario (“roster”).
Service providers on the roster will be required to:

• transport human remains for further investigation (i.e., post-mortem examination and identification);
• remove human remains from public places for storage, further examination and identification; and
• transport human remains when there is no identified claimant as required by the General Inspector of Anatomy under the Anatomy Act. 

You may recall, last year the OCC/OFPS released a DRAFT RFR, as the first step in a two-part process intended to seek your input on the procurement process. I would like to thank those that took the opportunity to provide feedback to the DRAFT RFR. This RFR is the final step to establish a roster and considered the feedback received as part of the DRAFT RFR process.

The OTP system is located at the following link:  
https://ontariotenders.app.jaggaer.com/esop/nac-host/public/web/login.html

You may locate the Body Transportation RFR as follows: 
Project Title: Body Transportation Services
Project Code: tender_15871
Category 85 (Healthcare Services)
Subcategory 85171500 (Funeral and Associated Services) 

I am providing two resource documents on the OTP system for your reference. These documents will assist you as you register as a supplier, in navigating the system, locating the document and submitting your response. 

The RFR will be available for two months, closing at 11:00 a.m. EST (Toronto time) on January 21, 2022. 

If you are interested in providing, or continuing to provide, body transportation services on behalf of the OCC/OFPS, you must submit a response to this RFR. Those that do not submit a response will be ineligible to provide, or continue to provide, body transportation services until the refresh of this process. The refresh process and timelines are outlined in the RFR. 

The ministry will host two information sessions on the body transportation services RFR:  

These two information sessions will be identical; therefore, you will only have to register for one of these sessions. It is, however, strongly recommended that you do attend one of these information sessions. Each session will focus on registering for and navigating the OTP system, a description of the RFR package and timelines, how to submit questions throughout the process and the process for responding to the RFR. 

To register for an information session, please contact:
Name: Yousif Adam, Procurement Advisor
Email: Yousif.Adam@Ontario.ca

Fill in “Body Transportation Services RFR Information Session” in the subject line of the email and clearly indicate which information session you are registering for in the body of the email. 

The information sessions will be hosted on Microsoft Teams. Detailed instructions on how to log onto the information session will be provided once registration is confirmed. 

If you are unclear about any of the body transportation services that will be requested to be provided by licensed Funeral Establishments and Transfer Service Operators by the OCC/OFPS, or the RFR process, you may submit questions through the RFR process before the deadline for questions. Details of how to submit these questions through the OTP system is outlined in the RFR and will also be discussed during the information sessions.

Questions will be accepted until 16:00 EST (Toronto time) on December 20, 2021. 

Thank you for the important service you provide in support of Ontario’s death investigation system and thank you in advance for taking the time to review and respond to the RFR. We look forward to receiving your responses. Should you have any questions or concerns, please follow the process indicated within the RFR to submit questions. 
Sincerely,

original signed by

Dirk Huyer, MD
Chief Coroner for Ontario

Attachments:

• eTendering: Supplier Registration Guide  
• eTendering: Responding to a Tender Guide