Solicitor: waste-removal contract selection remains unresolved after bidder challenge; board will consider options next meeting

Solicitor Pratt briefed the board on a procurement dispute tied to the district's attempted award of the waste-removal contract.

Background: the board previously accepted a committee recommendation to award waste-removal services to Penn Waste after an RFP. An unsuccessful bidder, KBS, filed a challenge to that award. Because of the pending challenge, the district has not executed a contract with Penn Waste.

Solicitor's update: Pratt said the district has collected additional information from both vendors and from internal procurement records over the last several months. He told the board the legal challenge has created three procedural options the board must consider at its next business meeting: (1) execute a contract with Penn Waste, (2) rescind the prior award and accept KBS's bid as the lowest responsive bidder, or (3) rescind the prior award and reject all proposals and re-advertise the RFP.

Why it matters: the solicitor said the matter also involves filed legal actions and that the board should not discuss the details in public beyond a status report. The legal challenge has delayed executing a contract and the district is holding service arrangements in place while the procurement dispute is resolved.

Next steps: the solicitor said he will present the board with the options and associated legal analyses at the next meeting so the board can decide how to proceed; he also noted that the challenger may seek further judicial review if the board chooses a path the challenger disputes.

Ending: the board received the solicitor's procedural update and will consider the procurement options at its next business meeting.