California city offers $100K contract boost to garbage consultant firm

Dive Brief:

Milpitas City Council in California unanimously approved a contract amendment with HF&H Consultants, meaning the Walnut Creek contractor will receive up to $212,250 to help the city chose a collection and disposal services provider. The city’s 30-year contract with Republic Services ends in Sept 2017.
A decision was made to split collection and disposal services in hopes of negotiating more competitive garbage service prices. Republic has submitted its bid to continue as Milpitas' collection provider, according Jeanne Serpa, Republic's municipal relationship manager. The submission deadline has passed, but the city will not disclose bidders’ names until a recommendation is taken to council in early 2016.
HF&H, whose negotiated fee adds $106,800 to the original agreement, is continuing to be involved in document preparation, council briefings and administrative functions such as completing and issuing the request for proposals, responding to bidders' questions, and receiving and conducting proposal reviews.

Dive Insight:

"Our goal in this instance is to find a candidate that can maintain and improve upon our existing services and fulfill our essential recycling and waste management needs as efficiently as possible," Milpitas City Manager Tom Williams said in a written statement.

Rob Hilton, with HF&H Consultants told Mercury News the city is considering separate proposals for collection and disposal "because the marketplace for providers of those services are sufficiently different that separating services may result in more competitive proposals for both," as there are relatively few companies that own landfills that provide disposal services.

The lack of landfills that take on this additional role is not uncommon, as owners and operators have their own issues and liabilities to focus solely on.

In its pursuit of services, Williams said the city will focus on a transparent and competitive selection process to "help ensure the city finds and selects the best candidate to fulfill the needs of our citizens."