Decision details

The Executive Member (Resources) presented the report of the Director of Customer and Digital that sought approval for the contract award procedure and evaluation criteria for the waste and recycling collection contract for households in the Borough. The report also sought approval for waste collection service options and ancillary services which would form part of the tender.

The Council’s current waste and recycling collection contract expires on 31 March 2019 and is the largest contract that the Council procures and is high risk in terms of value and reputational risk. It is also a high profile service that is provided to all residents of the Borough.

Consultants, AEA Ricardo were appointed by the Council to assist with this procurement and have completed work on modelling the potential options along with risks and benefits for the new contract. The Council has significant targets to achieve for the 2019/20 budget with a 2017/18 MTFS target of £250,000 for this contract. It was recommended that the service continued to be outsourced. Four options were modelled within the report with indicative costings provided for each one.

The findings of the consultant’s report had been presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 30 November with Option 2 (four weekly blue bin collections) to be included in the tender documentation being recommended by the Committee.

The Council’s consideration to either purchase or lease the waste collection vehicles would only be taken up if deemed to be a cost effective option for the authority. The Executive Cabinet accepted that there was an element of risk to these proposals and that any such proposals would be explored fully.

The new contract would include a review of the current waste collection rounds within the first year of the contract to ensure a high level of productivity and efficiency will be achieved. This review would be undertaken by the new service provider and details on how this would be carried out would form part of the tender. This is likely to result in a number of day changes which will cause some short term disruption.

The Council had explored the potential for partnership working with other Councils due geography and contract expiry dates there had been limited possibilities. The proposed contract length is for ten years with a two year extension option so that it will align with the current South Ribble contract which will end in June 2029.

Members commented on how disappointed they were with current recycling rates across the country and asked if Chorley could look at making improvements where possible. Lancashire County Council does not wish to discuss this any further at present and it was thought that rates would only improve when incineration of recycled products was a viable option.

Decision:

1.    Approval granted for the waste and recycling service to continue to be outsourced.

2.    Approval granted for the waste tender to be based on the current service and tenders to be evaluated on this basis. Bidders will also be asked to price for Option 2, the four weekly collection of plastic, bottles, can and glass (blue Bins) with other waste streams collected as current.

3.    Approval granted for the recommended ancillary services detailed in section 43 of the report.

4.    Approval granted that the contract period be for ten years with the option of a two year extension.

5.    Approval granted for the cost quality ratio for the tender evaluation be 60:40.

6.    Approval granted for the waste collection vehicles to be financed and procured by the Council provided it is cheaper to do so.

7.    Approval granted for the award of contract to be submitted to Executive Cabinet and full Council in July 2018.

Reason for recommendation(s):

1.     Evaluation of the consultant’s report along with assessment of how we can deliver ancillary services has resulted in the recommendations outlined in the report.

2.     Under the Council’s contract procedure rules approval by Executive Cabinet is required for contracts over £75,000.

Alternative options considered and rejected:

1.     A number of other service delivery and collection service options have been considered and these are described in the report along with reasons for unsuitability.

2.     To not agree contract procedure and award would fail to comply with the Council’s procurement rules.