Kennel provision and re-homing service for Swale Borough Councils stray dogs

<p>This contract is due to expire in June 2023. We are therefore advising businesses of the opportunity to work alongside Swale Council and provide the necessary services. The current service is highly regarded and has received ongoing recognition from partners such as the RSPCA. In the last 12 months (Nov 2021 – Nov 2022) Swale Borough Council received a total of 260 reported stray dogs. 88 of these were taken to the kennels by our dog warden for owners to come forward, or to be re-homed if the dog was not collected. 44 of these were collected by owners and 39 were successfully re-homed by the kennels or passed on to suitable charities for re-homing (the remaining 5 had either passed away before we arrived, euthanised under a vets recommendation, or were delivered to another LA as the dog was found outside our borough). In the coming weeks, we will be offering the opportunity for businesses to quote for the advertised services on the ProContract e-procurement portal. Prior to advertising, we wanted to offer all interested parties the opportunity to suggest how the contract specification could be improved. We would be very interested to hear from any kennel establishments that may be able to assist in the provision of this service in its entirety, or for specific parts of it i.e. you may be able to kennel the dogs but not re-home them. We will then consider if the opportunity should be divided into lots involving collection, kennelling, and rehoming of the dogs. Bidders may then select to bid for one, two or all three parts of the service. Alternatively, depending on what the industry advise us, we may keep the opportunity as a single lot. A few key points from the current service are as follows: • The current service involves our ‘in house’ officers collecting stray dogs 7 days a week up to 21.00 hours (therefore the current facility stays open until 22.00 for our officers to deliver dogs). These operational hours are currently under consideration and they may reduce after the review in time for the specification to be finalised. f you have requirements around collection times, we are flexible and still very interested to hear from you. • Dog owners can make appointments to collect their dogs from the current kennels and pay the fees incurred directly to the kennels (within normal working hours). Again, this is open for discussion as alternative models could apply. • After the statutory 7-day period the dog becomes the property of the council. We welcome ideas for how the re-homing of the dog could work but options may include the kennel taking ownership after day 7 and re-homing the dog directly. Alternatively, the council could arrange a place for the dog at a recognised re-homing charity (or possibly a hybrid of the two). SBC do not perform any rehoming or home checks, so our dog warden currently starts the re-homing process by reaching out to established and respected rescue organisations. This is completed as quickly as possible however there are occasions where this takes more than the 7 days to be arranged. We operate a non-destruct policy unless it is in the best interest of the dog and under veterinary advice. • Animal welfare is of course critical, and establishments would need to have suitable facilities, protocols, record keeping, regulatory licences and procedures in place to ensure legislative compliance and high standards of welfare for the animals. If you are interested in this opportunity, or if you would be interested in providing an amended service, then please feel free to call us on the above telephone number to discuss. For example, you may be interested in leasing a set number of kennels for the council to use, rather than charging on a dog-by-dog basis. The opportunity will be advertised for 30 days on the ProContract portal. Interested parties will need to register to apply. If you are not interested in providing this contracted service, but you could offer a limited service (or a service in an emergency situation) and would like to be listed on our business continuity plan should we need additional kennel space due to unforeseen circumstances, then please let us know. Please note the duration of the new contract has not been confirmed.</p>