1-25-111 Relief Vet Services RFP.pdf

Request for Proposals

R FP # 25-111

Wake County Animal Center Relief Veterinarian Services

Wake County, North Carolina P.O. Box 550

Raleigh, North Carolina 27602

Proposals are due:

November 12, 2025 before 3:00 pm EST

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL #25-111

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Project Overview

1.3 Scope of Services

2.0 Detailed Submittal Requirements

2.1 Proposal Format

2.2 Background and Qualifications…

2.3 Services and Availability

2.4 Client References ……………………………

2.5 Sample Certificate of Insurance

2.6 Schedule of Fees………

3.0 Evaluation Criteria

3.1 Selection Participants

3.2 Evaluation of Proposal

Tentative Schedule

Date Event

10/16/2025 RFP Published and Distributed

10/23/2025, 5pm EST Deadline for Questions or Clarification of Scope, submitted in WC Bonfire Portal

10/29/2025 Addenda Issued (if necessary)

11/12/2025 by 3:00 pm Proposal Submission Deadline by 3:00pm EST, submitted in WC Bonfire Portal

November, 2025 Proposal Evaluation and Review

November, 2025 Interview and Presentation of Selected Finalists (if needed)

December, 2025 Selection and Notification

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

1.1 Introduction

Wake County, North Carolina (“The County”) is seeking qualifications and proposals from firms and veterinarians to provide relief veterinarian services to the Wake County Animal Center. These relief veterinarian services include needs for both medicine focused and surgery focused veterinarians, proposers may respond to one or both needs.

Throughout this request for proposal (“RFP”), the “Proposer” refers to qualified firms that submit Proposals and the “Consultant” refers to the Proposer who is selected to provide the services described within this RFP.

1.2 Project Overview

Wake County is the most populous county in North Carolina. The County consists of 12 core municipalities and includes Raleigh, the County seat and State capital. The County’s population is estimated at 1.2 million residents. Wake County is growing by more than 51 people a day and added 225,000 people over the last decade.

Wake County Government operates the only open admission shelter in the county. The shelter takes in strays, abandoned and surrendered pets in Wake County and partners with five Animal Control jurisdictions to hold bite quarantines, court case holds, strays and protective custody animals that Animal Control Officers bring to the facility. Together, with community partners and volunteers, they treat and re-home thousands of homeless animals every year.

The shelter veterinarian manages an in-shelter population of approximately 250 animals, predominantly cats and dogs but also occasionally rabbits and other small mammals, reptiles, and aquatics.

1.3 Scope of Services

The scope of services covered in this RFP is to provide the County relief veterinarian support to provide coverage when County veterinarian staff are on vacation, sick leave, or positions are vacant.

Veterinarian hours at the Animal Center are Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. The Animal Center needs relief coverage for both medicine focused and surgery focused veterinarian coverage. Proposers may respond with their availability to provide one or both of these coverage needs.

The medicine focused shelter veterinarian will be responsible for completing routine physical examinations, medical management for sick or injured animals, and recheck examinations of in-shelter animals, as well as providing occasional support and guidance for animals in foster homes.

This veterinarian is expected to learn the shelter management software system, ShelterBuddy, and maintain thorough and accurate medical records. They will be assisted by 2 medicine focused veterinary assistants, and 1 “floating” assistant and are responsible for supervising their work.

The surgery focused shelter veterinarian will be responsible for completing pre-surgical examinations, for performing high-quality high-volume spay/neuter surgery (approximately 20 animals, 10 dogs and 10 cats within a 4-5 hour period), and for supervising post-surgery patient monitoring. The surgeon will be assisted by 2 medicine focused veterinary assistants/ technicians and 1 “floating assistant” and are responsible for supervising their work.

2 Detailed Submittal Requirements

2.1 Proposal Format

Proposers shall prepare their proposals in accordance with the instructions outlined in this section. Each Proposer is required to submit the proposal in the WC Bonfire Portal. Proposals should be prepared as simply as possible and provide a straightforward, concise description of the Proposer’s capabilities to satisfy the requirements of the RFP. Utmost attention should be given to accuracy, completeness, and clarity of content. All parts, pages, figures, and tables should be numbered and clearly labeled. The proposal should be organized into the following major sections with tabs for each section:

PROPOSAL

SSECTION TITLE

Title Page Letter of Transmittal Table of Contents

1.0 Background/Qualifications

2.0 Services and Availability

3.0 Client References

4.0 Sample Certificate of Insurance

5.0 Schedule of Fees

Instructions relative to each part of the response to this RFP are defined in the remainder of this section. Response information should be limited to pertinent information only. Marketing and sales type information is not to be included.

2.2 Background and Qualifications (Section 1)

Each proposal must provide the following information about the submitting Proposer, so that the County can evaluate the Proposer’s stability and ability to support the commitments set forth in response to the RFP. The County, at its option, may require a Proposer to provide additional support or clarify requested information.

Provide the resumes of staff that are proposed to provide relief veterinarian coverage. All staff providing coverage must be a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine licensed to practice in the state to North Carolina.

Describe staff’s veterinary medicine/surgery experience, particularly as it pertains to shelter medicine and/or high-quality high-volume spay/neuter surgery.

How long the Proposer has been providing services to clients similar to the County.

Identify any litigation or governmental or regulatory action pending against your organization that might have a bearing on your ability to provide services to the County.

Given that the County will be evaluating several proposals, describe why you feel that your services, from a professional and technical perspective, are the best fit for the County environment.

Describe the distinguishing features the County should know about your services.

2.3 Services and Availability (Section 2)

Proposer should indicate whether they are able to provide medicine focused shelter veterinarian relief coverage, surgery focused shelter veterinarian relief coverage, or both.

For the selected coverage options:

Explain specific coverage availability during the Monday-Friday 9am-5pm hours that veterinarian services at the Animal Center are operational.

Explain the notification process for staff to request Proposer assistance when a gap is known and how long the Proposer will take to respond to relief coverage requests.

Explain how much advanced notice the Proposer requires prior to being asked for a relief shift.

2.4 Client References (Section 3)

Capability of the Proposer to undertake and support services as described by this Request for Proposals based on reputation and customer references regarding the Vendor's performance for organizations with needs similar to the County's, particularly in the government sector. The County considers references to be important in its decision to award a contract. Failure to provide this information will result in the proposal being considered non-responsive.

Provide at least three current or former clients who we may contact. References should be clients similar in size to the County. Please give their company name and mailing address, telephone, and email of the contact person.

Reference #1 Reference #2 Reference #3

COMPANY

Contact Name

Contact Title

Contact Phone

Mailing Address

Email

2.5 Sample Certificate of Insurance (Section 4)

Proposer should provide sample certificate of insurance as detailed in the Terms and Conditions document.

2.6 Schedule of Fees (Section 5)

Proposer should submit an hourly bill rate schedule for all professional staff that will be assigned to this project.

3 Evaluation Criteria

3.1 Selection Participants

The County has established a team of staff to evaluate vendor responses. This team of employees will be responsible for the evaluation and rating of the proposals and conducting interviews.

3.2 Evaluation of Proposals

Responses will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Background and Qualifications

Services and Availability

Client References

Schedule of Fees

Any other criteria deemed appropriate