Milton Keynes council and Northamptonshire county council have dropped Biffa from the list of contenders for their jointly-procured residual waste treatment contract, leaving just three bidders in the running for the 25-year, PFI-funded deal.
The decision was announced today (August 23), after the councils' Joint Waste Disposal Committee agreed last week, following detailed evaluation of all four bidders' submissions for the contract, to “de-select” Biffa. It comes as the company's owners were finalising its takeover of Greenstar UK (see letsrecycle.com story).
With increasing pressure on all councils to control spending, this project represents a long-term cost saving that will be of crucial importance to both authorities
Councillor Heather Smith, Northamptonshire county council
As a result, the three remaining bidders for the ‘Project Reduce' scheme, which is set to involve building a treatment facility to handle 400,000 tonnes-a-year of residual waste, are;
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Covanta Energy – the US energy-from-waste incineration specialist;
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Shanks Group and US based EfW company Wheelabrator Technologies Inc;
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Waste Recycling Group – the Northampton-based waste company.
The Project Reduce team has stressed that the choice of technology and site for the proposed facility has not been chosen yet, but the background of the shortlisted companies points towards the development of an EfW incinerator.
This comes despite both councils having raised concerns over the technology in the past (see letsrecycle.com story), and securing £138 million in PFI credits with an outline business case focused on mechanical biological treatment and in-vessel composting.
Commenting on today's announcement, councillor Mike Galloway, cabinet member for environment, planning and growth at Milton Keynes council, said: “This project is a landmark investment by both authorities for all of its residents.”
Cabinet member for highways, minerals and waste at Northamptonshire county council, councillor Heather Smith, added: “With increasing pressure on all councils to control spending, this project represents a long-term cost saving that will be of crucial importance to both authorities.”
Procurement
The procurement process for the contract is now in the ‘Invitation to Submit Refined Solutions' stage, a 12-week period of further dialogue between the councils and the three remaining bidders.
The councils then expect to name a final two bidder shortlist in November, before the ‘Invitation to Submit Final Tender' stage, with the naming of a preferred bidder expected in July 2011.
As with the technology, they have stressed that the choice of site will also be made as part of the procurement process, although both have identified sites which could be used for the facilities, with Milton Keynes selecting a site at Old Wolverton and Northampton selecting one close to the A45 at Great Billing.
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