Letter to cut & paste: Dead Animal Collection company who have been offered the massive financial contract and control of the Dog Shelter

Dear John Shovlin,                Four Seasons Promotions, trading as acs     40 Leitrim Str, Cork

Re: Take over of the Dog Shelter and Dog Warden services for Carlow/Kilkenny

Please withdraw from the tender process with Kilkenny County Council. There has been a complaint put in to the EU on the basis that
1. Kilkenny County Council Failed to advertise a relevant contract - there was not the budget available, to ask for proposals between 450,000 and 650,000.

1.     2. Wrongly determining that a candidate does not meet a pre qualification criteria. 

           a. The two other tenderers were capable of enforcing the the law and have an animal welfare background. This is the point where Four Seasons will come under scrutiny. 

           b. Your other contracts with the councils are only for disposing of animals. 

      The Pounds (provision and maintenance) Act, 1935, Section 5

The Appointment of Pound Keepers

‘Every local authority in whose functional area any pound is situated shall as often as occasion requires appoint a fit and proper person to be keeper there-of.’

You have been protected by the councils as they needed a company to get rid of a 'problem' for them. The management of the shelter and dog warden services requires more than that. It requires a strong animal-focus, a community and rehoming focus. The public are determined that it will not go to a business that benefits from the disposal of animals. This will come to light. Although, the council may have followed the law, the EU are prepared to look at the principle, the law and your companies' collective unsuitability for such a provision of care.

1.     3. Giving one bidder information that was not given to other bidders

    There was a questions and answers on the public tender, written following your visit to the shelter. This was posted so that other tenderers did not have to visit the shelter themselves. The questions are answers omitted information about the current staff structure - information that the council weren't willing to divulge over the phone either. It also did not contain the previous year's accounts, both of which you will have been privy to, allowing you to put in a much more realistic bid. Furthermore, as the collection service, you will have known that 1,392 dogs were already killed at the shelter in the last five and three quarter years and how much extra money the disposal of future dogs would bring to the already sizable contract.

1.    4. Bids in favour of one party and against another

      There is no doubt that it'll come to light that your company has been 'hand held' throughout this process, by the council. It might be that there are only questions of saving money involved but we warn you that your profiting from animals suffering is not going down well as a choice for the services. People are collating more and more damning information about you and your companies that they are longing to share, in the name of stopping this grim allocation of money to an animal collection service.  If you pull out, you will spare yourself and your various businesses the exposure of your motivations and allow a group to start this new service with an open and willing approach. The welfare organizations receive amounts like 1-4,000 euro from time to time and yet work tirelessly for the recovery of the animals and the recovery too of the culture. This tender would make a major difference to an animal concern. A change is wanted, where people take responsibility for their animals and organizations like yours do not cream off the winnings of a heartless society. There was a vigil in Kilkenny on sunday night with many people of all ages turning out with their rescue dogs to share their horror at the prospect of your company getting the tender and plan how to stop it. They have spotted that with your other council contracts and your 1850 telephone number that you are hiding something and completely unaccountable. That is why we are writing to you now individually to let you know how deep the public feeling is.  

1.     5. ncorrect application of the award criteria

I     In the tender, we were asked to sign various animal welfare agreements. We were not asked to sign anything about the Enforcement etc. We anticipate that your company would not stand up to close examination of your animal welfare policy, so please do not insist that it is undertaken. You have the opportunity now to withdraw from this contract as unsuitable.

1.     6. Changing the award criteria or their relative weightings after receipt of bids

      The council asked about costings and staff structure and compliancy but, since you have been named as the successful tenderer, it has come to light that the weighting that the council put on cost was 80%. Your company was bound to win, considering that you will have known the real budget for the services.

      So these are the reasons for complaint and hopefully give you reason to rethink and withdraw you tender before more information is gathered in which you might be implicated. In addition to the complaints about the process, we appeal to your deepest spark of humanity to withdraw your tender and let this contract to an animal welfare concern.

      Many thanks,