DNA, Anthropology & Genealogy Services

Tender description

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. Anthropology and 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. Key Requirements The Contractor must be compliant with the Forensic Science Society or other appropriate industry standards including ISO/IEC 17025:2017 (General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories) and IS09001:2000 (Quality Management Systems). The Contractor will be required to obtain DNA profiles from both human remains (teeth or bone samples) and individuals who volunteer to provide a comparison sample. The Contractor must be able to undertake DNA profiling of the Y chromosome, to access the paternal lineage and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) 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 mtDNA). The Contractor must have the resources and expertise to process and obtain DNA profiles for the Authority and produce a report within the time frames specified. (Whilst the number of profiles required will vary depending on casework volumes the estimated requirement will be for comparison tests on between 10 and 100 sets of remains per year): The Contractor must be able to visit any global location deemed safe to travel to by FCDO, to undertake either a basic or full anthropological, osteological and genetic analysis of remains within 2 months of requesting. If the remains are co-mingled, the contractor will be expected to sort the skeletons into individuals, where possible, to make identification easier. The Contractor must be able to obtain the most effective DNA sample typically from teeth or long bones from recovered remains. 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.