Less than two years after selecting a new kerbside waste contractor, the Council has announced plans to seek a new contractor and will commence a tender process in the coming months.
Announced on 30 December, the timing of this announcement is extraordinary.
Why announce this decision on 30 December? Why make this announcement just weeks after a new Council was elected? If this was a decision of the new Council, why did it not appear in the agenda papers?
Have we not been here before?
Central to the Council’s announcement is a rigorous tender process. Indeed, the previous selection was also supposed to be rigorous, yet after months of bin chaos, the Council initiated two independent reviews of the selection process: : Cause Analysis and Recommendations Report | Probity Audit Report
While the reports found the selection process fair and impartial, the findings documented many disturbing shortfalls, including:
– Lack of attention to detail by Council, senior executives, and senior officers;
– A problematic ‘she’ll be right’ attitude toward a critical service;
– An obvious lack of senior skills to manage both the procurement and transition;
– The rate of bin failures remains higher than with the previous contractor;
– Price was considered the major deciding factor, but the new contractor has said the staffing levels required are unsustainable.
And, of course, the 6900 uncollected bins were impossible to ignore!
Important lessons learned?
The Council statement says it has ‘learned important lessons from the challenges experienced with the changeover to our current service provider.’
The statement says ‘the existing contract no longer meets the needs of either ourselves or our service provider.’ (Read the full statement here)
Has the new selection process been scrutinized by Councillors?
TWiSK would like assurance that this decision has been adequately scrutinized by current councillors.
Why the rush? Why was this announced on 30 December? What’s driving the imperative to act between councils?
And that’s just the beginning – we will be asking questions and publishing answers.
