Covington reviews solid waste contract bids; Republic scores highest on combined evaluation, no award yet

Covington city leaders on March 11 reviewed results of a request for proposals for the city's solid waste collection contract and discussed optional service changes and rate impacts, but made no award.

The consultant leading the procurement, Jeanette Jurgensen of Been There Consulting and Epicenter Services, told the council that three haulers submitted proposals and that the evaluation combined a quantitative price score (60 percent) with a qualitative score (40 percent). Jurgensen said Republic Services submitted the lowest-priced proposal and also earned the top combined score; the panel's totals were Republic 90 points, Recology 85.6 points and Waste Management 84 points.

Why it matters: the city's current contract is roughly $4.3 million per year under the consultant's customer-count assumptions, and all three bids came in noticeably higher. Jurgensen summarized the submitted annual contract values as Recology about $6.4 million (roughly 50% above the current baseline), Republic about $5.2 million (about 22% above) and Waste Management about $6.0 million (about 41% above).

The evaluation process and committee City staff and a multi-department review committee read proposals, visited recycling sorting facilities, interviewed each hauler and performed reference checks. Jurgensen said the committee scored qualitative elements such as customer service and sustainability (40 percent of the overall score) and combined that with the price-based quantitative score (60 percent) to reach the final rankings.

"I am pleased to see that our lowest rate increase is in the twenties," Jurgensen said, referring to the range of proposed…