1014 Medium-Term Residual Waste Treatment Contract

Following the Councils (ECC) initial round of market engagement there is some additional information we wish to share and/or clarify with the market:

With regards to Composition and Bulky Waste please see the below points:

• All Waste Collection Authorities (WCAs) in Essex have separate organic waste collections. At the moment, approximately 25% of black bag waste is organic. The Council is currently reviewing if we shall be able to provide more detailed waste composition data in the next round of market engagement; along with the possibility of offering ‘sample’ waste to potential bidders for testing through their solution.
• We define Bulky Waste as all the waste from the Recycling Centre for Household Waste (RCHW) sites (approx. 50-55ktpa) and items separately collected by the WCAs (approx. 5ktpa).
• Bulky Waste does not include Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) waste. We have a separate disposal contract for POPs – this is approx. 6-7ktpa. We believe Bulky Waste tonnages may reduce due to POPs legislation expanding to cover more items (ie: not just domestic seating, but items like beds and carpets).
• Occasionally, larger items could be apparent in the black bag waste stream due to residents putting large items in their black bins, or WCAs co-mingling large items they collect, but we believe this is uncommon.

With regards to Ad-Hoc waste please see the below:

• ECC are considering having an Untreatable Contract Waste list comprising items that can be turned away at the gate based on waste codes. However, ECC would also like to have an Ad-Hoc waste list for items that shouldn’t be in the contract waste but that aren’t identified at the gate. “Ad-Hoc” is possibly the incorrect term for this list, it might be better titled the “Unexpected Waste” list. ECC would pay for the cost of disposal of these items provided they can be attributed to a specific ECC delivery vehicle.

With regards additional points please see the below:

• ECC are looking to launch this procurement at the beginning of October 2023, with the intention of a start date for the new contract being 1 April 2024. Between now and October, we’re expecting to do another round of market engagement, either in-person / Teams meetings again or asking for responses to a questionnaire via email. As we will be undertaking a procurement using the Open procedure for the award of a fixed term contract or Framework agreement and this process does not allow for negotiation or dialogue, we are keen to ensure we complete thorough pre-tender market engagement and will not launch the procurement before we are satisfied we understand the market’s view. The amount of time we need to spend considering risk positions and engaging in a second round of market engagement will be dependent on the views expressed by the market in this first round of market engagement. Similarly, views expressed in market engagement will impact the complexity of the tender (potentially changing the time allocated to bidders to submit tenders and the time ECC require to evaluate them) and the mobilisation time offered to successful bidders. For these reasons, our timelines could change.
• We’re likely to run a bidder’s day (a live presentation where we talk through the contract and bidders can ask questions anonymously) after the tender is launched that we hope will help bidders understand the documents fully. Bidders can ask clarification questions during the bid phase, and ECC would encourage Bidders to do so if they don’t understand anything. As stated above ECC will be undertaking a procurement using the Open procedure for the award of a fixed term contract or Framework agreement and this process does not allow for negotiation or dialogue.
• To understand more about ECC approach to Social Value please see the link (https://www.essexproviderhub.org/social-value-catalogue/). ECC are due to run a Sustainability and Social Value festival in September which we encourage everyone to attend. Specific training will be provided to bidders to support and understand Social Value to enable completion of the Social Value documents in the published Tender.
• ECC are considering using a centroid as the assumed point of waste arising in Essex for the purposes of evaluation in this upcoming procurement. This would be a population-weighted centroid, not a geographical centroid.

It must be noted any information provided during Market Engagement is intended as a guide only and to help inform contractors so as to contextualise responses; any and all information required for the submission of a tender shall be included in the tender pack when the procurement is published.

Additional request for participation and market feedback.

Essex County Council (ECC) wishes to update interested parties that it has taken the decision to adjust the provisional timelines of its 1014 Medium-Term Residual Waste Treatment Contract (MTRWTC) tender.

Following the engagement conducted to date, ECC has considered the market’s responses and adjusted its commercial positions on a number of key topics to make the contract more appealing to the market. To allow sufficient time for potential bidders to comment on ECC's intended approach through participation in further market engagement, and to allow ECC to develop final drafting based on market responses, the Council now intends to commence its MTRWTC tender in January 2024. The services commencement date will be 01 April 2025, allowing sufficient time for a thorough procurement process and appropriate contract-mobilisation. It is ECC’s intention that the initial term of this contract will be seven years.

ECC has prepared a questionnaire and would encourage potential bidders to complete a written response by 5pm on 16 October 2023. Interested parties should email …@essex.gov.uk to request a copy of the questionnaire. Please note, in order to make the collection of feedback more time efficient, no one-to-one sessions are being offered on this occasion.

The Council wishes to invite interested parties to share their views on further market engagement topics as it continues to scope its requirements for its upcoming Medium-Term Residual Waste Treatment Contract tender.

To receive a copy of the Council’s latest questionnaire, please email …@essex.gov.uk.

Responses to the questionnaire are requested by 5pm on 23 October 2023.

The Council wishes to extend an offer to all interested parties to allow access to trial waste loads. This follows requests for details of Essex’s residual waste composition and requests for access to our waste for performance trials.

Upon request, samples of WCA residual waste and bulky waste types can be loaded into articulated bulker trailers at our waste transfer stations. Articulated bulkers must be provided at the potential bidder’s expense and any waste remaining after testing or trials shall be disposed in accordance with all laws at the potential bidder’s expense.

Any interested potential bidders should contact the Council via email at …@essex.gov.uk before 5pm on 01 March 2024 to make collection and consignment documentation arrangements.