NIGP 96270: Removal and Pickup of Dead Bodies

NIGP 96270 Removal and Pickup of Dead Bodies, an Item code, encompasses professional removal and transportation services of deceased persons from death scenes to medical examiner offices, morgues, or other designated facilities serving county coroner's offices and medical examiner operations. State and local governments—chiefly county coroner's and medical examiner's offices—solicit these services through RFP, RFQ, and IFB notices, typically on three-year contract cycles with optional renewal periods. Recent solicitations show counties contracting with single or multiple vendors who must maintain appropriate state licensing (funeral director or removal facility certification), meet response-time standards (often 24/7 availability with 60-minute arrival windows), provide trained personnel and equipped vehicles, carry commercial liability and workers' compensation insurance, and handle medical records, specimens, and physical evidence alongside decedent transport. Some jurisdictions impose prevailing wage requirements; others offer local business preference when available. The scope typically covers a defined geographic area—sometimes multi-county regions—with occasional service in nearby jurisdictions.

The code shows activity across Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Arizona, and Texas. Broward County, Florida recently solicited removal and transportation services under an open-end contract with geographic zoning (two bidding groups covering different service areas), bids due September 25, 2026, requiring a state removal facility license and offering local business preference; the Illinois State Police issued an IFB for Cook County decedent transport (three-year contract, bids due August 27, 2026) with prevailing wage requirements and 60-minute response mandates; Pinal County, Arizona solicited decedent transportation services with responses due October 23, 2026; Sarasota County, Florida advertised removal and transport services across a three-county region (Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto) with proposals due August 4, 2026; Fort Bend County, Texas requested decedent transportation bids (due August 18, 2026); and Chatham County, Georgia posted two RFPs for annual decedent removal and transport services on behalf of its Coroner's Office (due July 7, 2026). Pricing structures vary from fixed per-body estimates to comprehensive service-level contracts with multi-year pricing caps tied to Consumer Price Index or Producer Price Index.