Bidders sought for 481m West London Waste deal

The West London Waste Authority has become the latest of the major London waste bodies to go to the market to look for a long-term residual waste treatment contractor.

The body, which represents six councils in west of the capital, has officially advertised for a contractor to handle 300,000 tonnes of waste each year over the next 25 years in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The contract is said to be worth in the region of 481 million, however, the West London Waste Authority (WLWA) said it would seek to maximise value for money during the procurement process.

The advert, placed earlier this month (May 12), indicates that the procurement would cover all aspects of waste treatment, including necessary transport, operation of transfer stations and contracts for outputs, such as compost and refuse-derived fuel.

It adds that the WLWA is also offering its South Ruislip, Brentford and Park Royal transfer stations for use by a successful bidder.

And, while it claims to be technology neutral, the WLWA is seeking the most economically advantageous technology and that it must have been proven as operational on a municipal scale.

Present

At present, the majority of residual waste collected by the members of the WLWA is landfilled under a contract with Northampton-based Waste Recycling Group (WRG). The waste is transferred by rail to the Calvert landfill site in Buckinghamshire.

The WLWA said the contract with WRG has been in place since 2007 and has the option to be extended up to the start of the new residual waste treatment contract.

A competitive dialogue process will be used to handle the procurement, with up to eight bidders expected to be invited to develop solutions from August 2011. The WLWA intends to invite two final bidders to submit tenders for the deal in November 2012, ahead of naming a preferred bidder in late February 2013.

The WLWA represents the London boroughs of Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond-upon-Thames.

Procurement

Details of the WLWA contract procurement process have been closely guarded since the WLWA opted to remove itself from the PFI process in October 2008. At the time, the waste body said it was assessing other funding options (see letsrecycle.com story).

This was in stark contrast to the South London Waste Partnership and the North London Waste Authority, which were both earmarked to receive millions of pounds in government support before the funding was withdrawn as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review.

The two council bodies have since vowed to continue their procurement processes despite the withdrawal of PFI support.

Meanwhile, the fourth waste body, the East London Waste Authority, signed a long-term deal worth over a 1 billion with waste management firm Shanks Group in December 2002 (see letsrecycle.com story).

And, in May 2002, the Western Riverside Waste Authority – which represents the London boroughs of Lambeth, Wandsworth, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham – signed a 30-year contract worth over 770 million with waste management firm Cory Environmental (see letsrecycle.com story)