Serco wins joint Basingstoke & Deane and Hart contract

The contract, with Basingstoke & Deane borough and Hart district, is valued at £5.5 million a year. The authorities said the award will provide “significant” savings on the current contract, which has been operated by Veolia since 2011.

Previously, Hart district council had operated an in-house service but joined with Basingstoke & Deane for the 2011 contract, in a cost saving measure which was to save a combined £1.1million a year (see letsrecycle.com story).

In 2016, when the council said it would prefer to continue with Veolia as opposed to retendering,  Veolia said it was “losing money” on the contract, and would only agree to an extension to if it could be made financially viable. This led to a call from Veolia  for a ‘top up payment’ and a revised sum to extend,  which was rejected by the councils on the grounds that the confidential top up fee could not be verified.

Serco

Six tenders were received for the contract, which could be worth about an estimated £88 million if the extension is activated.

The initial contract notice included an option for Basingstoke & Deane council to switch from weekly to fortnightly collections of refuse, in a bid to save up to £1 million per year.

Information booklets will soon be sent out to residents to explain the “benefits” of the new contract, which include a reduction in joint service costs, Hart district council has said.

Confident

Commenting on the award, Hart’s cabinet member for contracts, Cllr Alan Oliver, said both councils are “confident” in the decision.

He said:  “As part of the original joint service it was agreed that Hart would be the administering authority for the contract, and that a joint client team was set up to manage the existing contract and to manage the tender process. We have been working closely with Basingstoke & Deane throughout the procurement process and we are both confident with our decision to award the contract to Serco.”

Value for money

Basingstoke & Deane borough council’s cabinet member for regulatory services and the environment Cllr Hayley Eachus, added that the joint partnership has allowed “significant improvements to the service provided, while securing the most efficient value for money”.

All staff currently employed by Veolia are due to transfer to Serco from October 2018.

A joint statement from the councils said that they “would like to take this opportunity to thank Veolia and their staff for the service they have provided over the last seven years”.