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Bid impasse stalling new recycling plan
Used
juice cartons, ink-jet cartridges, fluorescent light bulbs and medical
needles are all still headed to Miami-Dade’s landfills instead of
recycling centers.
County taxpayers are still paying
about $250,000 more each month for recycling than they would under
plans to improve the program.And a multimillion-dollar contract to
overhaul the system — which is attracting lobbyists like a trash heap
draws flies — is headed into its third round of bidding, in part
because some county commissioners want to ensure that local companies
get a piece of the business.”This reminds me of the bad old days of
procurement,” said Commissioner Katy Sorenson. “It’s going to create
even more of a feeding frenzy than we already have and set a precedent
for future procurements being just as messy.”The new contract
— which could be worth more than $110 million over the next 14 years
— would overhaul curbside recycling for 340,000 families. Instead of
separating recycleables into two buckets, everything would go in a
single 64-gallon wheeled cart, which would be picked up every two weeks
instead of every week.The county would also begin accepting mixed
paper, juice cartons and some kinds of plastic, as well as providing a
separate service to accept ink-jet cartridges, fluorescent light bulbs
and medical needles.The new service would also be about $250,000
cheaper per month than the current program, which the county will
continue using until a new deal is approved.County Manager George
Burgess hoped to win commission approval this month and launch the
improved program around April. But his proposal was rejected during a
nearly four-hour debate on Oct. 16, largely because the winning bidder
was a Longwood-based company named Waste Pro Inc.The discussion
revealed strong feelings among some commissioners about directing
contracts to local firms.”That needs to be the first consideration
because otherwise we’re not developing and growing our businesses,”
said Commissioner Barbara Jordan.County rules allow but strictly
regulate preferential treatment for local companies. When decisions are
based on the lowest bidder or the highest score from a selection
committee, a local business that comes within 5 or 10 percent of a
non-local winner can win the contract or receive another chance to
compete against the top finisher.Those rules did not apply to the
recycling contract — instead of rigidly going by price or points, the
county simultaneously negotiated with all five bidders to drive down
the price.NEW METHOD
Now, at the commission’s suggestion,
Burgess expects to propose a new method that would split the county
into three zones and forbid any company from serving more than one.
Because four of the five bidders are local, at least two-thirds of the
work would be guaranteed to stay with local firms.But that could make
recycling more expensive; county negotiators found last summer that
every bidder wanted more money per household if it served only one
zone. If they all stick with the last price they quoted, the service
could cost nearly $500,000 more per year than the $8 million proposal
Burgess offered last week.”If we go to zones, it’s not the best
price?” asked Commissioner Audrey Edmonson during the
meeting.”Absolutely not,” replied Miriam Singer, the county’s
procurement director.Commissioners suggested the next round of
negotiations should require the competitors to meet or beat the $1.97
price that Burgess had secured for countywide service, but there is no
guarantee any company would do so.”I guess we’ll deal with it if it
happens,” said Commissioner Carlos Gimenez.Even if bidders do meet
that price, Burgess said zones create administrative challenges and
create the risk of unequal service in different parts of the county. On
the other hand, Jordan said the zones put pressure on each contractor
to excel.”They know if they don’t there’s someone in the wings waiting
to take over,” she said.CONTENTIOUS PROCESS
Negotiating the
new recycling contract has been contentious and unconventional for
months. Burgess first tried a traditional method, known as a request
for proposals, but encouraged the commission to throw it out when all
the bids were higher than expected.The county then began negotiating
with five companies, ending up with an offer of $2.06 per household per
month from Waste Services of Florida. That company had recently bought
BFI, which currently handles recycling pickup and was criticized last
year for service lapses.At a committee meeting in September,
commissioners told Burgess to keep negotiating. He came back this month
with the $1.97 price from Waste Pro, but warned the commission it
”infects the procurement process” when they repeatedly tinker.”I
don’t know when you stop — somebody’s always going to do more, offer
more on the table,” Burgess said, noting that losing bidders routinely
tell commissioners they would have charged slightly less in hopes of
reopening negotiations.South Florida’s lobbying corps was on full
display during the debate, with some of the county’s most prominent
deal-greasers whispering in commissioners’ ears and buttonholing their
staff in the halls.More than a dozen of them were hired after Burgess
released his first set of recommendations in July — including former
Republican chairman Al Cárdenas and former Democratic chairman Scott
Maddox — suggesting a serious effort to change the outcome.Depending
on what course the commission sets next month, the April 2008 launch
could be delayed as little as a few weeks or as much as five
months.”At this point we should just draw straws,” Sorenson said.
“That would be as good as anything else we’re going to do here.”
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