GB-Rickmansworth: Kennel Services

Three Rivers District Council and Watford Borough Council have a statutory duty to collect and rehome stray dogs but do not own our own kennel facilities.

There is a risk that the kennels we currently use will close in the near future and therefore we are reviewing our current kennelling arrangements and are looking for a long-term partner to provide us with kennelling provisions for stray dogs. As part of this review we are approaching other local authorities and local kennels to determine what options are available.

Both Councils have officers in place to collect stray dogs that are either found by residents or temporarily dropped off at local vets, but we need a kennel facility to take them to where they can be looked after until our officers can re-home them or get them to a rescue centre. Legally we need to keep dogs for a minimum period of 7 days, during which period we hope the registered keeper will claim the dog.

Full arrangements would obviously need to be discussed further but we are looking to see if this is something you are able to even consider when assessing the key criteria and requirements listed below;

•We currently have access to 5 kennels (3 for TRDC and 2 for Watford).

•Officers would need to be able to access the kennels between the hours of 10am to 6pm (possibly up to 7pm, but this can be discussed further) either via your staff being available to let them in, or being provided with their own access.

•We cannot guarantee the dogs coming in will be vaccinated or not have fleas and/or other medical conditions - and therefore consideration needs to be made about if there is a possibility of the kennels for our dogs being separate from any boarding dogs (we will however commit to seek veterinary assistance if any ailment is obvious upon collection or if this apparent once in the kennels). •The care the dogs would need is 2 x exercise per day, except where it's not safe to do so, and obviously fed etc.

We would be very grateful if you could submit your interest through either submitting some Company information into the Tenderbox associated with this notice or dropping an email to us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Additional information: The contracting authority considers that this contract may be suitable for economic operators that are small or medium enterprises (SMEs). However, any selection of tenderers will be based solely on the criteria set out for the procurement.