Decision details

To award a contract for the management and operation of Dogsthorpe HRC.

The council finds itself in need of a short term arrangement to bridge the gap between the end of the current management arrangement for Dogsthorpe Household Recycling Centre and the completion of the development of the new facility in Dodson House. The short term nature of this requirement and the results from the soft market testing and previous procurement indicated little prospect of delivering any competitive tension in the marketplace with the incumbent supplier likely to win again.

The following options were considered:

EU Procurement

For the reasons outlined above, it is highly unlikely that a procurement exercise would result in a position that is any different from the existing one.

Include the interim and new management and operation under one contract

The Council has yet to let a contract to construct the new facility planned for Dodson House in Fengate and due to the capital assets already in place at Dogsthorpe with the incumbent operator it would be unwise to combine the two requirements. The development and construction of a new facility and its long term operation offer a different set of risks and rewards to those of maintaining the relatively simple operation at the Dogsthorpe site and as such linking the two procurements is likely to limit the value of bringing them together.  Potentially the same capital equipment (skips, steps, office space) investment disincentive would remain at the Dogsthorpe facility.

Do nothing

This is not an option as the Council is obligated to provide a Household Recycling Centre under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. As the Council is a Waste Disposal Authority, it is required by statute to provide a recycling facility.

Award a short term contract whilst undertaking a parallel procurement exercise to identify a service provider for the longer term

An option might be to award a short term contract to the incumbent supplier, (say for 5 months), and carry out a procurement exercise. This might reduce the risk of challenge however it remains that this option would be unlikely to deliver an alternative short term service provider.

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