Agenda item

To provide an update to Cabinet following receipt of final detailed submissions from bidders at the Invitation to Submit Final Tenders (“ISFT”) stage of the procurement process, to set out details of the tender proposed for award of contract and subject to funding requirements seek approval to appoint the successful bidder to deliver a waste & recycling collection and street cleaning contract for three years with effect from 1^st April 2026 with an option to extend for up to two years.

The report highlights the financial implications of entering into the contract to ensure the Council can deliver its statutory duties and comply with the requirements of the Environment Act 2021.

Subject to Cabinet’s approval an implementation and communications plan will be necessary to ensure the residents of the District are aware of the changes coming into effect on 1^st April 2026.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

1. notes the further extensive work undertaken on the procurement process, both by officers and external consultants following the revisions to the Core Specification Principles adopted in May 2025 and the subsequent decision, to approve the detail of the service specification and other related documentation associated with the Invitation to Submit Final Tenders stage of the waste contract procurement;

2. thanks the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee and notes their recommendations following the meeting on 4 November 2025, as set out in this report, which will be considered as part of the work associated with the implementation of the contract and revised service going forward;

3. acknowledges that the tender received from Veolia ES (UK) Ltd (company registration number 02481991) has been fully evaluated and meets the requirements of the final service specification that in turn is based on the revised Core Specification Principles;

4. agrees to award the contract to Veolia ES (UK) Ltd commencing on 1 April 2026:

(i) for an initial term of three years (with the option to extend for up to two years);

(ii) at a total gross cost over the initial three-year term of £7.796m over and above existing budgetary provision as set out in Table 1 of this report;

(iii) that associated Government grant funding of £0.437m as set out within the finance section of this report be allocated towards the cost highlighted in (4)(ii) above;

(iv) that the necessary further budget adjustments set out within Table 3 of this report be agreed to meet the net overall additional three-year contract costs;

(v) that any unspent money from the previously agreed sum of £0.400m that was set aside to support the overall procurement process be applied as a further contingency sum to support the implementation of the new contract;

(vi) that, subject to (4)(i) to (4)(v) above, agrees a delegation to the Corporate Director (Finance & ICT), in consultation with the Corporate Director (Operations & Delivery), the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance & Governance and the Portfolio Holder for Environment & ICT to make the necessary changes to the budget to reflect the implementation of the new contract; and

(vii) notes the next steps and key procurement target dates set out within this report and acknowledges that the Portfolio Holder for Environment & ICT and the Corporate Director (Operations & Delivery) will prepare an implementation and communications plan as part of the smooth transition and roll out of the new service, ensuring that residents are aware of the new requirements.

Cabinet considered a report of the Environment & ICT Portfolio Holder (A.1) which provided an update to Cabinet following receipt of final detailed submissions from bidders at the Invitation to Submit Final Tenders (“ISFT”) stage of the procurement process, and set out details of the tender proposed for award of contract and subject to funding requirements sought Cabinet’s approval to appoint the successful bidder to deliver a waste & recycling collection and street cleaning contract for three years with effect from 1^st April 2026 with an option to extend for up to two years.

The report highlighted the financial implications of entering into the contract to ensure the Council could deliver its statutory duties and comply with the requirements of the Environment Act 2021.

Subject to Cabinet’s approval an implementation and communications plan would be necessary to ensure the residents of the District were aware of the changes coming into effect on 1^st April 2026.

Cabinet was informed that the proposals set out in this report provided for a new waste and recycling collection and street cleaning contract that:

a. would provide residents with an enhanced recycling collection service alongside the continuation of fortnightly or weekly residual waste collection and weekly food waste collection;

b. gave residents and visitors to the District a level of street cleaning that was at least equivalent to that provided currently;

c. was fully funded for a period of three years without adversely impacting on other important services provided by the Council.

Cabinet recalled that, at its meeting held on 26 July 2024, Cabinet had agreed to the commencement of a procurement process to appoint a contractor to deliver the Council’s waste and recycling collection and street cleaning service from 2026 onwards, based upon a set of principles, which had translated into a specification for detailed solutions to be submitted against.

Members were assured that the Council’s project team had been supported throughout the procurement process by four external organisations, chosen for their experience in supporting similar procurements elsewhere.

Members were reminded that the price for the initial detailed solutions provided by bidders at the Invitation to Submit Detailed Solutions (ISDS) stage had not been affordable by the Council, being potentially over £7m per annum above the current associated budgets.

In response to the affordability position and Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) proposals for Greater Essex, at its meeting held on 23 May 2025 Cabinet had agreed a revised set of Core Specification Principles aimed at reducing the price at final tender stage (those changes were):

o a shorter contract term – from eight to an initial three-year contract term with an optional extension period of up to two years;

o a reduction in specification, mainly in relation to street cleaning, aimed at reducing the level of risk and uncertainty whilst increasing affordability but not offering a lower level of service than currently;

o that the Council did not take any risk on the value of the dry mixed recycling (DMR) collected at the kerbside; and,

o that the Council did not fund the up-front purchase of any vehicle fleet.

Cabinet noted that the Council remained committed to the fortnightly residual waste collection from wheeled bins (weekly for those on a black sack service). The complete set of Core Principles were included within Table 6 in the Background section of this report (A.1).

It was reported that a revised draft specification had been sent to bidders following that May 2025 Cabinet meeting and Officers had entered competitive dialogue discussions with each individual bidder during June and July 2025, after which the Council’s requirements had been finalised via a decision by the Corporate Director (Operations and Delivery) on 14 August 2025, and final detailed solutions (tenders) had been invited with a tender closing date of 17 September 2025.

Cabinet was advised that the terms and conditions of the expected contract requirements formed part of the procurement process, and some clarification questions had been received related to the service specification but none that had fundamentally altered the specification or contract terms. Therefore, subject to the recommendations being approved, no further decisions were required for the contract documentation to be completed.

Cabinet was made aware that the Council had received one tender submission, from Veolia ES (UK) Ltd, which had been fully evaluated to ensure that it fully met the requirements of the service specification, which it did. The tender was also within a price range that was affordable to the Council over the initial contract duration of three years, subject to budget adjustments.

Members were informed that, over the three-year term of the contract, the Council would require an additional budget of £7.796m to pay for the service. This was reduced to £7.359m when considering one off grant funding received by the Council.

Members were cognisant that, in anticipation of increased contract costs, £2.417m had already been set aside as part of finalising the outturn position for 2024/25. A further £4.942m needed to be identified and this could be met by refocussing budgets associated with uncommitted New Homes Bonus funding for 2025/26, the Corporate Investment Fund and other smaller favourable variances emerging across the Council’s wider budgeted position.

It was reiterated that, prior to Cabinet approving the award of the contract, the financial implications to this Council needed to be considered and balanced against compliance with the statutory duties regarding waste and recycling collection.

Refocussing of existing budgets in order to continue providing the statutorily required waste service might impact the speed and scale of investment elsewhere within the Council’s overall budget.

Alongside LGR, the financial impact of the waste tender acted as a timely opportunity to review the Council’s approach to its wider forecast / budget setting process and against this context it was planned to develop a two-year financial ‘work programme’ / budget as reported elsewhere on the agenda.

It was reported that, to ensure an effective delivery of the new contract and a smooth transition to the new recycling collection services, Officers would be developing an implementation and communications plan. This would be jointly developed with Veolia who, as part of their tender submission, had been required to submit a comprehensive mobilisation plan.

The Leader of the Council read out a statement on behalf of the Environment & ICT Portfolio Holder who had been unable to attend the meeting.

Cabinet was advised that the reasoning behind the Portfolio Holder’s recommendations was as follows:-

(a) The Council’s current contracts with Veolia ES (UK) Ltd for household waste and recycling collection and street sweeping both expired on 1^st April 2026. As such, a contractor needed to be found to deliver those services on expiry of the current arrangements.

(b) The Council had now undertaken a full and thorough procurement exercise to find a suitable contractor to deliver the service based upon the Core Specification Principles previously approved by Cabinet for April 2026 and beyond.

(c) The recommendations ensured that the Council continued to progress the future of this important statutory service, meeting its affordability envelope whilst complying with the Environment Act 2021 requirements that would commence on 1 April 2026.

(d) Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 the Council was designated as a Waste Collection Authority (WCA) and as such had a statutory duty to collect household waste and recycling from homes in the District. From 1 April 2026, the Council would be required under provisions in the Environment Act 2021 to collect a wider range of recyclable material and as such any new service commencing in 2026 must be compliant with or at least working towards compliance with this requirement. A failure to comply with those Environment Act requirements could result in the Council being subjected to a Judicial Review and funding provided by DEFRA being withdrawn. This funding included that provided towards the revenue costs of delivering an enhanced food waste collection service and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) funding towards the cost of the increased collection of recyclable materials at the kerbside.

It was moved by Councillor Stephenson, seconded by Councillor Henderson and:-