Piedmont – Franchise Extension Negotiations & Solid Waste Collection Service RFP

R3 assisted the City of Piedmont with franchise extension negotiations with the City’s hauler, Republic Services (Republic). During negotiations, Republic requested unacceptable rate increases, and R3 subsequently recommended going to bid.

R3 subsequently conducted a competitive process to procure high-quality services for garbage, green waste, and recyclables collection and processing and also conducted an operations and billing review of the City’s franchised hauler, Republic.  Among other tasks, R3 conducted a survey of rates and services for comparative communities, fully reviewed the current Agreement, established a set of recommendations for the new Agreement, and organized the City’s “deal points” for potential inclusion in an extended and restated Agreement.

City Council approved staff’s recommendation to proceed to negotiations with Republic, and R3 scheduled negotiation meetings and submitted letters to Republic for clarification of their proposal and stances on various negotiation items. The second round of negotiations resulted in Republic being selected for the solid waste collections contract.

As a result of our negotiation assistance, the City gained the following benefits:

• The provision of on-premises “backyard” service at a surcharge equivalent to the costs of providing these services, except for physically disabled residents, who pay curbside rates;
• A new fleet of collection vehicles;
• Compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) pickup at curbside;
• Payment to the city of $75,000 (escalated by CPI) per year to fund the provision of commercial education and outreach services by the City or its representative; and
• Bulky item pickup provided twice per year for up to 6 cubic yards per event for single-family residents and provided to multi-family residents at the request of the property manager.