Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Cheshire county council's strategic manager for contract procurement, John Thistlewood, said that the reduction in bidders would come ahead of the council choosing a preferred bidder early in 2009 and “hopefully” awarding the contract sometime after April.
The shortlist is still at four, as we announced in March, but we have to reduce that and intend to go from four down to two by the end of the year
John Thistlewood, Cheshire county council
He also confirmed that the decision to split the council into two unitary authorities, with the formation of East and West Cheshire, would not affect the procurement process but would need to be taken into consideration (see letsrecycle.com story).
Mr Thistlewood said: “Completion of the waste treatment PFI procurement will require the agreement of both the two new unitary authorities (Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East) which come into effect from 1 April 2009 and this has involved consultation with the Shadow Authorities.”
Shortlist
Currently the council is entertaining a shortlist containing just four companies, having cut the bidders down from 13 in March, with the remaining firms being: Viridor Waste Management; Waste Recycling Group; services company United Utilities; and a joint bid from chemical firm INEOS Chlor and Shanks Waste Management (see letsrecycle.com story).
Mr Thistlewood said: “The shortlist is still at four, as we announced in March, but we have to reduce that and intend to go from four down to two by the end of the year.
The next stage of the competitive dialogue process will see the four remaining companies producing refined bids, based on their initial proposals, outlining how they intend to treat residual waste and divert from landfill.
The submission is due to take place in October, allowing the shortlist to be cut further by the end of 2008.
Mr Thistlewood explained that, taking into account the decision to split the council, there had been no further changes to the proposed timetable and said: “We will award the contract after April 2009, hopefully in the early summer”.
Cheshire has been awarded £40 million in PFI credits by Defra in a bid to help fund a new waste treatment infrastructure for the county, with the council currently sending all its residual waste to three landfills run by the Waste Recycling Group.
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