Further to the approved Cabinet report on the 5th October this report seeks approval to award the new waste collection contract

That:

a) Authority is delegated to the Corporate Director for Economy and Environment in consultation with the Cabinet Member Community Services and Assets, Cabinet Member for Environment and the Director of Resources and Assurance to award the contract to the preferred bidder for the new waste collection service under the existing collection model, within the proposed 2024/25 annual revenue budget, for an initial term of 8 years, including options to extend by up to a further 12 years (following budget approval and conclusion of the procurement process);

b) Authority is delegated to the Corporate Director for Economy and Environment in consultation with the Cabinet Member Community Services and Assets, Cabinet Member for Environment and the Director of Resources and Assurance to authorise expenditure for the essential depot improvements, service enhancement and new receptacles essential for the standard service, within the approved £5.8m capital budget for the standard collection service within the new contract;

c) To delegate authority to the Corporate Director for Economy and Environment to place the order with the preferred bidder for the new vehicle fleet prior to the contract award with the preferred bidder in order to meet the vehicle lead in times and ensure the new vehicles are available for the new Contract Commencement Date;

d) To authorise the expenditure up to the value of £250,000 from the Waste Revenue Reserve to fund mobilisation;

e) Cabinet approves the extension of the existing Waste Collection contract with FCC Environment from 2 June 2024 to 31 August 2024 to ensure alignment with the start of the new waste collection contract on 1 September 2024; and

f) Delegate all operational decisions in order to implement the above recommendations to the Corporate Director for Economy and Environment.

1.     Do nothing - This is not an option as the current waste collection contract cannot be extended beyond 1 September 2024 and waste collection and disposal services are statutory services that the council has to provide.

2.     Terminating the current procurement process and seeking a further long-term extension to the current collection arrangements. This is contrary to the Public Contract Regulations 2015 and the Council’s contract procedure rules.

3.     Terminating the procurement process and bringing the waste collection service in house; this option has been rejected based on specialist external technical consultancy advice.