SWaMP2008 terminates waste procurement

The partnership announced today (October 15) that it reached the decision with great regret but that, for legal reasons, it was out of its control.

The partnership had been procuring residual waste treatment infrastructure on behalf of eight local authorities in the South and West of Northern Ireland since 2009. To date, the councils have spent 3 million on the procurement process for the 25-year contract.

However, three of the final four bidders withdrew from the procurement process in 2010 and 2011 and now a legal challenge has been brought against SWaMP2008 in relation to its remaining bidder, Irish construction and engineering firm Quinn Group.

SWAMP2008 said that it had reached its decision with great regret however the project has recently been the subject of a legal challenge, as a result of circumstances that are outside of the control of SWaMP2008.

It added: As a publicly-funded organisation SWaMP2008 has reluctantly concluded that its interests, and those of its stakeholders, are not best served by engaging in an expensive, lengthy and ultimately uncertain legal process, and consequently the procurement process is to be terminated.

A spokeswoman for the partnership said the councils were now looking at alternative treatment options. At present, the majority of residual waste from the eight councils is sent to landfill.

Challenge

The spokeswoman explained that the legal challenge related to proposed changes to Quinn’s bid, announced in May 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story), which it was claimed were in breach of procurement law.

The company had originally been shortlisted as a single bidder, but was looking to ‘strengthen’ its bid by teaming up with construction company Costain and investment firm Equitix, which would have been the main shareholders in the project. In addition, Quinn Manufacturing Group Limited was to take the place of Quinn Group Limited.

“That [the legal challenge] is the only reason we terminated the procurement and we are very disappointed with it. We were hoping that the last bidder had a very robust solution that was going to offer us a long term solution.”

Councillor Connaire McGreevy

Quinn Group was proposing to develop a series of waste transfer stations and a mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plant at Lisbane in County Armagh, for which it had been granted planning permission. The MBT plant was going to use technology from Italian company Entsorga.

Disappointed

Councillor Connaire McGreevy, chair of SWaMP2008s joint committee, told letsrecycle.com that the legal challenge had been brought by waste management firm Natural World Products (NWP). NWP was part of a Biffa-led consortium which was shortlisted for the contract in October 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story).

He said the legal challenge was brought by NWP after SWaMP2008 advertised the proposed changes to Quinns bid. A writ was entered to the High Court in relation to breaching procurement law, but has since been withdrawn following the termination of the procurement.

Councilor McGreevy said: That [the legal challenge] is the only reason we terminated the procurement and we are very disappointed with it. We were hoping that the last bidder had a very robust solution that was going to offer us a long term solution.

SWaMP carried out the procurement to the letter of the law. We dotted the is and crossed the ts. What has happened is Quinn have changed their make-up and tried to introduce new consortium members. We then had the legal challenge.

A spokeswoman from Quinn said the firm was disappointed that the process had been terminated. She said: “Quinn Manufacturing Group had brought forward a sustainable and deliverable solution and is therfore disappointed that the procurement process has been abandoned.”

Natural World Products was unavailable for comment when contacted by letsrecycle.com.

Solutions

Following the termination of the contract, the councils are now looking at other solutions for the treatment of their residual waste.

The eight councils comprising SWaMP2008 are: Armagh city & borough council; Banbridge district council; Cookstown district council; Craigavon borough council; Dungannon & South Tyrone borough council; Fermanagh district council; Newry & Mourne district council; and, Omagh district council.

A spokeswoman for SWaMP2008 said the councils were aware of the move and were considering what short term solutions were available to them. She added that the process will not be started again and the councils are expected to procure individual or smaller group contracts.

Risks

Commenting on the termination of the procurement, Alex Attwood, Northern Ireland’s environment minister, said the outcome demonstrates the risks inherent in such projects.

He said: “I have been taking appropriate actions to subject the three waste management procurements to rigorous scrutiny and review. That has been my approach over the last 18 months. I need to be satisfied that the procurements can achieve their objectives and that this is justified in terms of the public purse and the interests of the councils and ratepayers.”

Mr Attwood added that his focus will now turn to the remaning two waste infrastructure procurement projects in the country – Arc21 and North West Region Waste Management Group.

“We are now in a critical phase in the Strategic Waste Infrastructure Programme – as it has been since I became Environment Minister. There is a need for certainty and avoidance of doubt. In the coming weeks, my focus will be to subject the remaining two procurement exercises being undertaken by councils to robust and ongoing scrutiny to ensure that waste procurement is modelled to serve needs of the councils in the North, to do so in a way that is fully compliant with European legislation, is affordable, is deliverable and is the necessary and best option for our waste requirements.”