The county council has said it wishes to further evaluate the quality of the waste company's proposals now that SITA is the only remaining bidder for the contract.
” We will be allowing SITA to improve on their offer and refine the bid.“
– Paul Jones, Northumberland CC
SITA UK was left as the sole bidder for the Northumberland Private Finance Initiative contract in July this year after two shortlisted companies – Shanks and SENREC – pulled out of the running (see letsrecycle.com story).
Northumberland said it would consider a halt to the PFI process, because of the difficulties involved in proving SITA's bid provided the best option for the county.
But this week, Northumberland's head of waste management, Paul Jones, told letsrecycle.com the contract process with SITA was “full steam ahead” with the council aiming to get hold of a revised bid.
Mr Jones said: “We will be allowing SITA to improve on their offer and refine the bid. Upon receipt of the new bid we will evaluate it and make a decision on whether it is acceptable and worthy of following into procurement.”
Evaluation
SITA will be given about 12 weeks to revise its bid, after which the council intends a month-long evaluation period before deciding whether to name SITA as preferred bidder for the contract – or back away from the PFI process completely and look at other options.
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Mr Jones said that the council had been investigating other options, which are still open to them.
As well as satisfying councillors that the SITA bid is the best for them, Northumberland will also need to ensure that the government accepts the proposal.
Mr Jones said: “As there is 34 million worth of PFI money involved, we will need to make sure Defra is happy with the winning bid. We will be discussing how this will be done with Defra over the coming months.”
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