The Solid Waste Authority board unanimously adopted revisions to its purchasing manual to reflect the authority’s revised small-business enterprise (SBE) policy and related changes requested after the board’s June executive-order review.

Staff said the purchasing manual adjustments remove prior MWBE/SBMWBE language and update procurement language to the board’s direction. The board approved the amended manual 7-0.

Separately, the board discussed an upcoming RFP for legislative and federal lobbying services. A prospective respondent raised concerns about a subcontracting/participation requirement and how that may affect bid pricing and small-business participation. The board debated competing objectives: ensuring strong, capable lobbying representation while creating opportunities for local SBEs to participate.

Outcome on the lobbying RFP: the board directed staff to require each proposer to submit an SBE participation plan as part of the RFP package, but not to assign SBE plan points in the solicitation scoring. The authority’s evaluation committee will review proposals, and the board said it will consider SBE participation when making the award decision. Commissioners also asked that draft RFPs be circulated to board members at least 10 days before issuance so they can flag items for discussion if desired. Staff said that is consistent with current practice: commissioners will have a 10-day review window and staff will proceed if no board member requests a hold.

Why it matters: procurement rules determine how the authority balances cost, technical competence and local small-business development. The adopted purchasing manual aligns procurement language with the board’s direction on SBE rules; the approach to the lobbying solicitation preserves board discretion to consider SBE participation while removing mandatory SBE-point weighting that some board members said could unintentionally raise proposal prices.