Fingal County Council seeks marketing soundings for Dog Warden and Dog Shelter services

Fingal County Council has commenced a market soundings process which will lead to the issue of a tender to provide Dog Warden and Dog Shelter services for the county from September 2021 for a four-year period.

A Request for Information (RFI) was published today (Wednesday) on eTenders. The eTenders portal is a central facility for all public sector contracting authorities to advertise procurement opportunities and is a key reference point for potential suppliers and services providers.

The RFI has been issued to alert service providers that a Market Sounding exercise is now underway to seek the views of market operators on possible approaches that may be taken by  Fingal County Council in a tender process for the delivery of a Dog Warden and Dog Shelter service across Fingal. This exercise will seek to assess the ability of the market to deliver the two services either separately or as an all-inclusive service. 

At present Fingal’s Dog Warden and Dog Shelter services are operated under a regional arrangement with the other three Dublin Local Authorities and the current contracts are due to expire at the end of August.

Having carried out a review of its Dog Warden and Dog Shelter arrangements, Fingal County Council has decided to establish its own independent arrangement for the provision of these services.

The Council’s Climate Action, Biodiversity and Environment Strategic Policy Committee set up a sub-committee to examine welfare requirements within the new tender. The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr David Healy, who chairs this SPC, said their work influenced the decision to opt out of the regional contract.

“The Sub-Committee has worked with Vets and others to draw up a robust set of dog welfare requirements and these will be a key part of any contract to provide Dog Warden and Dog Shelter services. We have now reached a point where Fingal needs to provide these important services itself as it will lead to greater oversight and better outcomes,” said Cllr Healy.

Fingal County Council’s Director of Environment, Climate Action and Active Travel, David Storey, said: “We hope there will be good engagement with our market sounding exercise as it will give us an indication of the ability of providers to supply the services we are seeking.”

The Request for Information Notice can be viewed at https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/PublicPurchase/181869