Indigent Burial and Cremation Services

The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Social Services, is seeking a pool of experienced vendors to provide indigent burial and cremation services across New Castle, Kent, and Sussex counties. The procurement involves comprehensive end-of-life services for indigent and unclaimed persons, including body transportation, embalming, grave opening and closing, concrete grave markers, and burial or cremation. Vendors must hold appropriate Delaware licenses and certifications, and provide proof of insurance with minimum coverage limits of $1,000,000 in Commercial General Liability per occurrence and automotive liability coverage. A non-mandatory pre-bid meeting is scheduled for February 6, 2026, at 1:00 PM EDT via Microsoft Teams, with questions due by January 23, 2026, at 4:30 PM EDT through the Euna Procurement Portal. Proposal submissions are due March 13, 2026, at 1:00 PM EDT, with an anticipated award notification date of May 31, 2026. The contract will have an initial two-year term with three optional one-year renewal extensions, and pricing will be structured on a per-case basis with separate costs proposed for different service types in each county.

The solicitation does not specify specific set-aside designations or restrictions for disadvantaged enterprises. Vendors must submit monthly invoices with detailed reporting of cases, including decedent names, referral dates, burial locations, and costs, with payments processed within 30 days of complete documentation. The State reserves the right to award multiple contracts to different vendors and may utilize cooperative pricing arrangements. Vendors are required to maintain monthly usage reports and quarterly subcontracting diversity reports, and are prohibited from storing or transferring non-public State data outside the United States. While no performance or bid bonds are required, vendors must carry appropriate insurance and comply with background check requirements for employees accessing state property or vulnerable populations. Although a specific budget range is not disclosed, the per-case pricing structure suggests that the total contract value will depend on the number of indigent burial and cremation services required across Delaware's three counties during the contract period.