When public bodies award services contracts, typically the job goes to the lowest bidder offering the most bang for the buck. When public bodies award services contracts, typically the job goes to the lowest bidder offering the most bang for the buck. That, however, was not the rationale used last year by the Lafayette Parish School Board when it renewed the school system's garbage contract with Allied Waste Services - a questionable decision considering the company's bid was $70,000 more per year than the proposal submitted by Progressive Waste Solutions.
Originally, the board awarded the contract during its Aug. 15, 2012, meeting, opting to go with Gordon's Disposal, which received the highest evaluation rating out of the three companies to submit proposals, but was not the least costly.
The three proposals received by the board came from Gordon's ($285,849/year), Progressive ($212,473/year) and Waste Management ($1.1 million/year). In addition to the three proposals, the information packet received by the board also included an evaluation with a percent ranking based off each companies' "administrative capability, computer literacy, training/fees, feasibility, completeness of proposal and other services."
Listed at the top of the evaluation was Gordon's, but its 84.5 percent ranking was only slightly higher than Progressive's 85.5 percent. The board, in awarding the contract, seems to have based its decision solely on the evaluation ranking, ignoring cost altogether. Despite being 1.3 percentage points lower than Gordon's on the evaluation, the proposal from Progressive was much cheaper. It could have saved the system $73,376.
Shortly after the board's decision, Gordon's notified the school system that had it been bought by BFI Waste Services - owners of Allied Waste, which held the school system's garbage contract at the time but had not submitted a bid during the RFP process. That development prompted the administration to request that the board rescind the deal during its Oct. 3, 2012, meeting and award the contract to the second ranked company, Progressive.
In a Sept. 28, 2012, letter to Jonathan Dewitt of Progressive Waste, Superintendent Dr. Pat Cooper writes: "At the board meeting ... we are recommending to award the Garbage Collection Services Contract to Progressive Waste. Our intent is for the contract to begin on Nov. 1, 2012."
Photo by Robin May
Tehmi Chassion
Instead of following the administration's advice, the board opted instead to go with BFI/Allied in a 7-2 vote following a motion and a second from board members Tehmi Chassion and Mark Allen Babineaux. The only board members to vote against awarding BFI/Allied the contract: Board President Shelton Cobb and Hunter Beasley.
It's unclear why the board went the way it did with the garbage contract. For the past 10 years, Progressive has been good to the school system, providing free recycling service to 28 schools within the Lafayette Parish School System.
That free service, however, is no longer being offered as of this school year. In a letter to a teacher from Lafayette High, Progressive's Dewitt explains the company's reasons for discontinuing the free recycling pickup it's provided to the school system for the last decade:
I applaud the example you are setting at Lafayette High School with your recycling program. Progressive Waste Solutions believes that recycling is important and we further believe that the Lafayette School District as a whole would be better off with a comprehensive recycling program aimed at educating our young people on the importance of environmental stewardship and community responsibility. We would love to continue to provide these services to not only Lafayette High, but to the entire school system. A comprehensive recycling program could potentially save the system a great deal of money by allowing them to divert recyclable goods out of their waste stream.
Unfortunately, we are not able to provide these services for free. We have costs that we must cover. Around this time last year we approached the school board with the proposal of instituting a recycling program. We would have liked to have seen recycling included in the bid process for the waste disposal. These services were not included in the waste bid, and despite Progressive Waste Solutions being the lowest bidder by a significant amount, we were not awarded the bid.
I am sorry for your frustrations, I share them. Should there be anything else I can do for you in the future please reach out to me.