Provision of Veterinary Services

There is a requirement for Veterinary Services for the Police Dog Units for the Cheshire & North Wales Police Alliance. Veterinary Practices are required to be a Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) accredited practice with small animal hospital status.

The Veterinary Service will need to cover four prime areas:

• Normal veterinary consultation, minor treatment and referrals
• Surgery, to include overnight accommodation of animals where appropriate
• The supply of medication and associated veterinary care products
• Animal dental treatment

All practitioners providing the services must be experienced and hold a minimum of at least one of the following appropriate qualifications:

Veterinary Surgeons

MRCVS (Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons) or, BVM & S (Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine & Science) or, BVSC (Bachelor of Veterinary Science)

Veterinary Nurses

All nurses must either be training for or hold a Veterinary Nurse Certificate (V.N.)

There is a requirement for a contract to cover the Alliances' requirements where the Veterinary Practices will cover 27/7/365 with the services identified in the specification identified in the RFQ operating across both geographical areas. Accessibility and proximity will be key factors in the evaluation process.

For operational requirements, the veterinary practice must be within one [1] hours' travel of as much of Cheshire and North Wales as possible.

This contract will commence on June 1st 2019. It is the intention to award the contract for a period of two [2] years with the option to extend for a further two [2] years in two [2] periods of [12] twelve months.

The Alliance Dog Unit currently operates and maintains working dogs in the following categories:

• General Purpose Patrol Dogs which are currently mainly German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois and Dutch Herders are considered. These dogs are retired at 8 years old.
• Specialist Search Dogs which are currently Springer Spaniels or Cocker Spaniels engaged in drugs or explosive search capabilities. These dogs are aged between 12 months and 10 years old.
• Labradors or Labrador cross breeds operating in specialist search roles. These dogs are aged 18 months or over and all are likely to be retired before they are 10 years old.