TO: The Solid Waste Disposal District Board of Commissioners
THROUGH: John A. Titkanich, Jr., County Administrator
Sean C. Lieske, Director of Utility Services
FROM: Himanshu H. Mehta, PE, Managing Director, Solid Waste Disposal District
DATE: March 21, 2025
SUBJECT: Recommendation for Award of the Operation and Maintenance of Indian River County Customer Convenience Centers (Bid No. 2025029)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
BACKGROUND
On November 16, 2010, the Solid Waste Disposal District (SWDD) Board authorized the Solid Waste Operations and Maintenance Agreement (Agreement) with Republic Services of Florida, Limited Partnership (Republic Services). The agreement covers the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the county’s Class I Landfill as well as non-Class I Landfill services. The original Agreement term was for 7 years through December 31, 2017; however, on February 21, 2017, the SWDD Board approved an extension of the Agreement through December 31, 2024. In order to align this Agreement to our fiscal year calendar, on November 21, 2023, the SWDD Board approved the Twenty Second Amendment and Extension to Republic Services for the contract to terminate on September 30, 2025. The Fiscal Year 2024/2025 Budget includes a price per ton of $16.26 per ton and an annual overall cost of approximately $4 million dollars per year for the Class I Landfill O&M services. Currently, the non-Class I Landfill services include both some ancillary services within the footprint of the landfill as well as the O&M of the five Customer Convenience Centers (CCC), Blue Cypress Drop-Off facility and other ancillary services with a similar annual overall cost of approximately $4 million dollars per year.
On January 10, 2025, the Indian River County (IRC) Procurement Division issued two separate Invitations to Bid (ITB’s), one for the O&M of the IRC Landfill (ITB No. 2025028) and the second for the O&M of the five Customer Convenience Centers (ITB No. 2025029). Potential vendors had an opportunity to bid on one, both or none using our new procurement platform, BonFire, available through the county website. The ITBs were prepared with the assistance of Kessler Consulting, Inc. (KCI) and their subcontractor S2L, Inc. The ITBs included a sample agreement that was reviewed by IRC Risk Division and IRC County Attorney's Office prior to release.
The ITB was broken into two phases with Phase I being the Vendor Qualification Package that was due on January 31, 2025, followed by a mandatory pre-bid meeting on February 14, 2025, and Phase II being a Vendor Bid Package that was due on March 14, 2025, for the CCC ITB and on March 19, 2025 for the Landfill ITB.
The purpose of this agenda is to provide staff analysis and recommendation for award of the O&M of IRC CCCs (Bid No. 2025029).
ANALYSIS
Term:
Under the new ITB, SWDD staff has proposed an initial term of 10 years commencing October 1, 2025, and terminating on September 30, 2035. After the initial 10-year term, the agreement may be renewed for one (1) additional term of 10 years under the same terms and conditions as the initial term, including amendments. If renewed, per a written and executed extension agreement, the additional 10-year term will begin on October 1, 2035, and terminate on September 30, 2045.
CCC Hours of Operations:
No changes were proposed to the current CCC hours of operations; as such, all five CCCs will remain open 5 days per week from 7 am to 6 pm (with the exception of holiday closures) with the Gifford, Winter Beach and Roseland CCCs to remain closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and with Oslo and Fellsmere CCCs to remain closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
CCC Summary of Scope of Work:
The overall scope of work in the CCC ITB matches the current practice of safe operations, quality customer service, management and transportation of various materials from the CCCs to the landfill.
The following is a list of some new policies and procedures that were included in the CCC ITB: 1) Requiring that an attendant is present at the entrance of each CCC to check driver’s licenses to confirm IRC residency. (This is to keep out of county materials from coming to the CCCs and ultimately to our landfill.) 2) Having a minimum of three trained attendants at each CCC at all times; 3) A strict adherence to accepting residential materials only and only limited commercial recycling materials; 4) Providing all new containers at each CCC including a new compactor at each CCC for old corrugated cardboard and new waste oil containers at each of the CCCs; and 5) Packaging and preparing various items such as e-waste, HHW, cooking oil and waste oil for collection and transportation by third-party vendors. The new CCC ITB no longer includes other ancillary services that were provided to other county departments and organizations.
Results:
At 2:00 PM on March 14, 2025, the Procurement Division opened bids from Republic Services of Florida, LP (Republic Services), and WM of Florida, Inc. as both of these were received in a timely manner.
Both vendors provided the required bid bond and all associated ITB documents, and were deemed responsive and responsible bidders.
SWDD staff, along with our consultants, reviewed the bids and provide the following summary:
|
O&M SERVICES WITH RESIDENCY VERIFICATION |
|
CUSTOMER |
REPUBLIC SERVICES |
WM |
|
CCCs Per Month |
Per Year |
Per Month |
Per Year |
|
|
Fellsmere |
$115,463 |
$1,385,556 |
$146,000 |
$1,752,000 |
|
Gifford |
$93,045 |
$1,116,540 |
$187,000 |
$2,244,000 |
|
Oslo |
$121,546 |
$1,458,552 |
$280,000 |
$3,360,000 |
|
Roseland |
$72,737 |
$872,844 |
$139,000 |
$1,668,000 |
|
Winter Beach |
$64,735 |
$776,820 |
$96,000 |
$1,152,000 |
|
Total = |
$467,526 |
$5,610,312 |
$848,000 |
$10,176,000 |
|
O&M SERVICES WITHOUT RESIDENCY VERIFICATION |
|
CUSTOMER |
REPUBLIC SERVICES |
WM |
|
CCCs Per Month |
Per Year |
Per Month |
Per Year |
|
|
Fellsmere |
$106,530 |
$1,278,360 |
$138,750 |
$1,665,000 |
|
Gifford |
$84,112 |
$1,009,344 |
$179,750 |
$2,157,000 |
|
Oslo |
$112,613 |
$1,351,356 |
$272,750 |
$3,273,000 |
|
Roseland |
$63,804 |
$765,648 |
$131,750 |
$1,581,000 |
|
Winter Beach |
$55,802 |
$669,624 |
$88,750 |
$1,065,000 |
|
Total = |
$422,861 |
$5,074,332 |
$811,750 |
$9,741,000 |
Overall, Republic Services is the apparent low bidder for the two options included in the ITB. Based on the cost savings of $535,980 per year, staff recommends that we do not require the vendor to provide additional staff at the entrance gate of each of the CCCs to verify IRC residency. Staff does recommend an opportunity to negotiate a final agreement with Republic Services to look at other cost saving measures that can be achieved to the benefit of our county residents.
In comparing the current budget of $4 million per year to the proposed $5.1 million per year costs, this is a $1.1 million per year, or 27% increase in costs. A contributing factor is that the waste industry as a whole has also been impacted by inflation and as our waste companies have informed us, our historical consumer price index approvals have not met industry standards.
Although staff does not recommend any changes at this time, it is suggested that SWDD evaluate the impact on the future use of these CCCs by our residents at 6 months, 12 months and 18 months after the start of Universal Collection in Unincorporated IRC. For example, a future closing of Roseland and Winter Beach CCC would save approximately $1.4 million in costs or $14 million over a 10-year period. A part of the savings could be used to improve the other three CCC's and also to pass the savings to our residents.
Overall, staff has completed a fair and transparent procurement process to ensure that the continuity of services as well as the safe and proper operations of the Indian River County Customer Convenience Centers are maintained for the service of all our residents.
BUDGETARY IMPACT
Funding for the SWDD Customer Convenience Center services for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025/2026 will be budgeted and available in the SWDD/CC & Recycling/Contractual Services account, number 41125534-033489, in the estimated amount of $5,074,332, which is funded from SWDD assessments and user fees.
|
Description |
Account |
Amount |
|
SWDD/CC & Recycling/Contractual Services |
41125534-033489 |
$5,074,332 |
PREVIOUS BOARD ACTIONS
n/a
POTENTIAL FUTURE BOARD ACTIONS
n/a
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT
Infrastructure
OTHER PLAN ALIGNMENT
n/a
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that its Board approve the following:
a) Award Bid No. 2025029 to Republic Services of Florida, Limited Partnership as the lowest, responsive, responsible bidder for the Operation and Maintenance of the Indian River County Customer Convenience Centers without residency verification for a grand total in the amount of $5,074,332.
b) Authorize the County Administrator and his designated staff to negotiate on behalf of the SWDD Board with Republic Services to optimize the sample agreement for the overall benefit of all county residents; and
b) Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute the sample agreement, as presented, pending receipt of the required bonds and insurance, and final negotiated Agreement by the County Attorney’s Office as to form and legal sufficiency.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Sample Agreement