Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 A market test exercise was undertaken in 2006/07 to establish the best value option for delivering all "front line" waste services for the next 10 to 14 years. This was prompted by the recommendations of a Best Value Review. The result of the exercise was that the Council Executive at their meeting on 5^th March 2007 resolved to not award a contract but to retain the majority of the waste services in-house, except for the kerbside recycling collection service.

1.2 The Council Executive also resolved that the collection, bulking and selling of recycled materials should be put through a further procurement process.

2 RECOMMENDATION

2.1 Appendix B Results of Tenders Received constitutes exempt information according to the categories set out in the Local government Act 1972 (amended Schedule 12A) because it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of a particular person (including the authority holding that information), and therefore that the public interest is best served by exemption of the information.

2.2 The Council awards the Recycling Collection Services contract to ECT Recycling for a period of 10 years.

3

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 The Tender price for the first year of the contract is within the current annual budget after the transfer to the successful tenderer of the responsibility for the provision of vehicles, depots, equipment and receptacles.

3.2 Increases in tonnage due to demographic growth will be calculated on an annual basis and the contract price adjusted accordingly based on a cost per property.

3.3 In addition to demographic growth, for the second year of the contract onwards a tonnage growth of 0.5% per annum has been assumed by the contractor. Predicting tonnage growth is very difficult, however looking at the growth trends of previous years data a figure of 3.5% would be a more realistic. If tonnage growth is at 3.5% additional resources and therefore funding, would be required but would only be paid to the contractor if additional resources are actually required. Should the 3.5% materialise the service will develop proposals to fund this; approximately 50% of the costs of recycling growth can be offset by reductions in landfill costs. Other productivity gains will fund the remaining costs.

3.5 Any changes to the range of materials that we collect, or in the way that they are collected, will be dealt with through a variation to the contract. Payment of the value of any Variation shall be made through a pro-rata adjustment to the Contract Price over the remainder of the Term

4 COMMUNITY STRATEGY OUTCOMES

5 CORPORATE IMPROVEMENT PRIORITIES

6 CPA KEY LINES OF ENQUIRY

7 THE REPORT

7.1 To facilitate the letting of the contract as quickly as possible, it was tendered on a European Open Tender basis with no requirement for companies to pre-qualify. Twenty one companies expressed an interest in the tender and were sent electronic copies of the documents. The closing date for the receipt of tenders was 27^th July 2007.

7.2 The Recycling Services Contract length is for 10 years, with the option to extend for a further 4 years. Soft Market Testing carried out with the waste industry advised that this contract period would offer the best value.

7.3 The contract price submitted and evaluated was for carrying out the service as it currently is and the requirement for carrying out same day collections. The cost for collecting additional materials of kitchen waste and card were also submitted, but not evaluated as part of the contract award process. These costs will be used when evaluating the feasibility of introducing future service changes. If we were to introduce future service changes the successful contractor will be asked to provide a cost (increase or reduction) for changing the terms of the contract.

7.4 Tenders were received from the following companies:- ECT (the current service provider) and Wiltshire Waste (Recycling) Ltd.

7.5 An independent consultant undertook the full contract evaluation and further information on the evaluation process can be found at Appendix A.

7.6 The results of the Tenders received are shown at Appendix B. These are expressed as price and overall evaluation score, taking account of all the criteria included in the evaluation model (see Appendix A).

7.7 The tender which is most economically advantageous to the Council is that submitted by ECT.

7.8 ECT possess a detailed knowledge of recycling systems generally and extensive local knowledge. The tender submitted by ECT was the lowest priced bid and scored highest in the evaluation process.

8 RISK MANAGEMENT

8.1 The report author and Lead Cabinet member have fully reviewed the risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance.

9 RATIONALE

9.1 The analysis of the tenders submitted has shown that ECT offers the Council best value in terms of price and delivery.

10 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

10.1 Another tender was evaluated as part of the contract award, but this contractor was not selected as they did not score so highly in the evaluation process.

11 CONSULTATION

11.1 Cabinet members; Trades Unions; Overview & Scrutiny Panel; Other B&NES Services; Stakeholders/Partners;; Section 151 Finance Officer; Chief Executive; Monitoring Officer

11.2 The Project Board which managed the overall Market Test process included the Executive Councillor and representatives of the O&S panels for PTS and Major Projects. Trades Unions representatives were invited to attend as observers where appropriate. Representatives of The Section 151 Finance Officer and the Monitoring Officer have been consulted and their advice taken as appropriate throughout the procurement process.

11.3 Other Council services have been consulted to ensure robust financial, legal and Human Resource advice has been taken into account in arriving at the recommendations of this report.

11.4 Potential tenderers were consulted on the content, packaging and process of the procurement exercise through the Soft Market Test and their views informed the Council's approach.

12 ISSUES TO CONSIDER IN REACHING THE DECISION

12.1 Customer Focus; Sustainability; Human Resources; Property; Corporate; Health & Safety; Impact on Staff; Other Legal Considerations

13 ADVICE SOUGHT

13.1 The Council's Monitoring Officer (Council Solicitor) and Section 151 Officer (Strategic Director - Support Services) have had the opportunity to input to this report and have cleared it for publication.