North Yorks councils move forward with delayed PFI

The councils, which received £65 million in PFI funds to jointly procure waste treatment infrastructure more than two years ago (see letsrecycle.com story), had hoped to invite final tenders from the two remaining bidders for the 25-year deal in December 2008.

But, they have now revealed that, following a “prolonged” procurement process, the evaluation of final tenders has only just begun, and a preferred bidder is now expected to be named in early 2010.

The news comes just days after Wakefield district borough council revealed the process of reaching financial close on its waste PFI deal with preferred bidder VT Group had been affected by the economic slowdown (see letsrecycle.com story).

And, both the Greater Manchester PFI and Cumbria PPP deals which reached financial close earlier this year only did so after protracted procurement processes, with the recession cited as an influencing factor.

Report

In a report considered by City of York's shadow executive last month, councillors were told that the dialogue stage of the procurement had been affected by a combination of the “complexity” of the dialogue process, North Yorkshire county council's withdrawal of its Minerals and Waste Strategy, and the economic downturn.

As a result, final tenders were not expected to be submitted until last month, it added.

The two final bidders for the City of York and North Yorkshire deal are a consortium between services firm Amey and Spanish waste treatment company Cespa, and another involving engineering company Earth Tech and construction firm Skanska.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Helen Bawn, of North Yorkshire county council's waste PFI team, confirmed that final bid documents had now been received from the two bidders.

She added: “We will now evaluate the final tenders in detail and anticipate that this process will take three to four months. We expect to announce our preferred bidder for the long term waste contract early in 2010 and that announcement will include details of the proposed solution, including the location and proposed technology.”

In the report submitted to City of York's shadow executive, technologies including anaerobic digestion, mechanical biological treatment and energy from waste are mooted as being among the “options considered”.

The two councils have worked together on waste issues since 1999, operating under the banner of the York and North Yorkshire Waste Partnership.