Agenda item

Cabinet considered the public element of the report.

Councillor Devereux presented a report that this was the culmination of a considerable amount of work done by the Council, North Norfolk and Breckland District Councils in order to procure the new Refuse and Recycling Collection contract.

Cabinet considered the public element of the report on the Refuse and Recycling Contract which explained the following points:  at its meeting on 1^st August 2017 the Council determined to undertake a joint procurement exercise with North Norfolk District Council and others for refuse and recycling services. (Cabinet Minute CAB 39 refers).  The procurement of the process was delegated to the Executive Director Commercial Services up to the point of award of a contract.

The tendering process sought the same arrangements for services as currently delivered as a minimum.  A price for the removal of the food waste service was additionally obtained so that the net cost of the service could be fully established.  The benefit of this was that it provided a benchmark for claiming additional burdens funding should national policy change.

The procurement exercise was carried out in accordance with the regulations of the OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union).  Given the length of the contract (9 years although services were only delivered in this borough for eight years from April 2021) and the importance to residents, the tender process was carried out using the “Competition with Negotiation” process.  The use of this process ensured that the Contractor had a complete understanding of the process and that the Council obtained best value.

The three councils involved in the procurement entered into an Inter Authority Agreement for the procurement of the contract.  It was noted that failure to award the contract at this stage would be non compliant with this agreement and expose the council to a risk of challenge and costs.

Tenders were received on 15^th November 2019 for all elements of revenue expenditure and 3^rd December 2019 for capital costs and evaluated by a joint staff team from King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, North Norfolk District Council and Breckland District Council supported by specialist consultants on legal and technical aspects of the evaluation. 

A full analysis of the procurement process was attached at Appendix 1 to the report.

An analysis of the evaluation of Tenders was provided at Appendix 2 to the report.

Barry Brandford Waste and Recycling Manager explained that the 2 bidders had basic service arrangements and additional features were provided by each.  He explained that the team who had evaluated the contract included legal, waste, technical and procurement experts from the 3 authorities.  He explained that North Norfolk’s contract would commence on 1 April 2020, whilst the Borough’s Contract would commence on 1 April 2021.  Once decisions were taken it would be essential for North Norfolk to mobilise as a matter of urgency.

He explained that the team had met with potential bidders before the OJEU notice in order to gain the maximum benefit in the final tenders.

Under standing order 34 Councillor Ryves commented that he wanted to be confident that the provision of vehicles was on the best possible terms for the Council.  He confirmed he had not been able to attend the scrutiny panel so he asked whether the Council had gone for diesel because it was the cheapest.

He asked whether the Council had considered purchasing a waste food anaerobic digester to deal with the food waste collected.

In response, the Chair confirmed that all types of vehicles had been considered in the process, and officers were aware that small councils such as Bath were using electric or gas vehicles but their total area was much smaller than the contract area being considered.

The Waste and Recycling Manager confirmed they had looked at other options such as LPG for dustcarts, but the fleet would not be large enough to be effective.  He referred to other small authorities using electric.  He explained that there was nothing currently available for this type of contract, and the vehicle specification was at the bidders risk so if they didn’t function it would be a big concern for them.

With regard to the food waste contract, he confirmed it was a separate contract.

Under standing order 34 Councillor Rose confirmed his questions had been answered by the Waste and Recycling Manager.

Councillor Gidney asked if bio diesel had been considered, to which it was commented that the depot did not have the tanker facilities to hold sufficient for the fleet, although the diesel purchased did contain an element of bio diesel.