H W Martin withdraws tender for Peterborough deal

Derbyshire-based H W Martin has withdrawn from the running for Peterborough city council's waste and recycling collections and services contract – one week after being named among the final four bidders for the long-term deal.

The waste management firm was listed as one of the final four bidders for the waste and recycling collections contract last week alongside services and waste management firm Amey, services firm Enterprise and waste management firm Veolia Environmental Services (see letsrecycle.com story).

A successful bidder for the deal, which is expected to run for between nine and 30 years, would be expected to carry out waste and recycling collections for the city council, along with grounds maintenance and some operational services.

However, yesterday (July 8), the city council announced that H W Martin had withdrawn from the running to focus on “other commercial commitments”. This comes just after Shanks Group withdrew from the two shortlists to become the city council's energy-from-waste and a material recycling facilities contractor.

H W Martin said it had undertaken a review of its commercial strategy and decided to “concentrate on other commercial opportunities in the market”. The company declined to comment further on its reason for withdrawing from the contract process.

Contract

The spokesman for the city council said Peterborough had taken into account precautions to cater for incidents such as this. He told letsrecycle.com: “We said in our OJEU [Official Journal of European Union] notice that we intended to have ensured we would have up to six bidders going forward in the original expressions of interest.

The spokesman added that the withdrawal of H W Martin would not affect the delivery of the contract. He said: “We are still happy with the timetable we set out.”

An exact value of the contract has not been revealed with a spokesman explaining when a six-bidder shortlist was announced in January 2010, which also included services and construction company Kier Group and support services company May Gurney (see letsrecycle.com story).

From the detailed plans, the city council will shortlist at least two of bidders to submit final tenders later this year with a view to a preferred partner being selected around the end of the year. It is expected the contract would then commence in early 2011.