Board approves contracts for new Animal Care Services shelter: kennels, furniture and equipment

The Board of Business and Neighborhood Services approved three procurements on Oct. 23 to outfit the new Animal Care Services (ACS) shelter under construction.

Abby Brands, director of the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services, told the board, "Staff recommends this board approve and authorize the director to enter into a new supply agreement with Patterson Veterinary Supply Inc for the capital purchase and delivery of 496 configurable modular Sani kennel units with glass fronts for the new Animal Care Services Agency shelter currently under construction." She said the board was also being asked to approve a vendor for the shelter furniture package and an operations equipment package.

The approvals matter because they finalize purchases needed for the new shelter to open. Brands said the purchases were procured with the city's project team and purchasing division and that the shelter design specifically accounted for the kennel specifications.

Board documents list the kennel procurement at a proposed cost of $1,313,868.60 to Patterson Veterinary Supply Inc. The kennel package description in the board memo notes "496 configurable modular Sani kennel units with glass fronts" and separately lists "234 back to back kennels, plus another 28 kennels in other areas of the shelter, including dog intake, the puppy area, and the vet services room." The memo identified the procurement as a sole-source purchase authorized after the purchasing division reviewed an engineer's justification letter on file.

The board also approved a furniture purchase from Business Furniture LLC for a bid price of $157,093.55. The documents say Business Furniture is a women-owned business enterprise completing recertification with OMWBD; the furniture items were selected by the city's project team and the shelter architect and bid under RFB 1BACS-3.

For the broader operations equipment package, the board authorized the director to enter into an agreement with the lowest responsive, responsible bidder with a contract compensation limit not to exceed $700,000. The equipment package description includes items such as cat kennels, exam tables, scales, an anesthesia machine and narcotics safes; the package was bid under RFB 1BACS-4.

Jacob Miller, a staff member with the department, described a bidding irregularity related to the equipment solicitation and explained the $700,000 limit. He said separate vendors had bid installation and equipment lines, and as a contingency staff set a contract compensation limit that would allow combining lines into a single contract if necessary. Miller said, "I can assure you that the compensation to the supplier would not exceed their bid price, which is listed in the resolution document," and added that installation, if rolled into one contract, was "more than $60,000 but less than $70,000." Brands said the procurements are coming out of bond funds assigned to the shelter project.

All three items were approved by voice vote. The board record shows the motions passed without recorded dissents.

Board members also noted that ACS is no longer part of BNS but that BNS continued to oversee procurement and assist with paying and tracking project invoices to complete the shelter project.

The board canceled its November meeting and tentatively scheduled a December meeting for Dec. 4, primarily for policy cleanup and final items before year end.

Votes at a glance: Resolution 2025 C10-025 (kennel supply agreement with Patterson Veterinary Supply Inc) — approved; Resolution 2025 C10-026 (furniture package with Business Furniture LLC) — approved; Resolution (equipment package, RFB 1BACS-4, compensation limit not to exceed $700,000) — approved.