Evaluation committee recommends Sustainable Landfill Solutions LLC as top-ranked firm for leachate treatment RFP

The Hillsborough County evaluation committee recommended Sustainable Landfill Solutions LLC as the top-ranked proposer for RFP 2600156, the county's membrane-based landfill leachate treatment services solicitation. Committee chair Eli Alvarado and other reviewers praised SLS’s permitting knowledge and turnkey approach, which reviewers said demonstrated readiness for local conditions.

Sybil Tucker, the chief buyer overseeing the procurement, recorded the price and score totals that produced the ranking. "Total price was $10,428,750, giving them a total score of 79.24 points," Tucker said. She said SLS would be posted as the recommended selection pending the conclusion of the required protest period.

The committee evaluated proposals on three criteria: qualifications/experience/references (35 points), project approach/schedule (20 points), and leachate treatment fee/total project cost (45 points). Tucker said the committee reached consensus scores for SLS of 34 for qualifications and 20 for approach; the price scoring produced 25.24 points for the submitted SLS cost. "Sustainable landfill will be ranked number 1," Tucker said.

Next procedural steps include the procurement office posting a notice of intent to recommend award and a five-business-day protest window. Tucker reiterated procurement rules: "The cone of silence is still in effect and will remain in effect until 5 days after the county posts [the notice of intent to award], unless the procurement is canceled by the county." If no timely protest is received, procurement will move to negotiate and finalize the agreement with the selected firm.

The committee asked the chair to provide a written meeting summary and recommendation to procurement before the notice is posted. No formal dissenting vote was recorded; members indicated agreement by consensus.