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Berkeley – Negotiation Assistance

R3 provided negotiation services to the City of Berkeley, who was seeking to arrange for the recyclables processing services currently provided by Community Conservation Centers (CCC). R3 provided support in the negotiation of a short-term contract with CCC to continue to provide recycling processing services as the City begins redevelopment of one of its solid waste facilities and the development of long-term solid waste policies via a Zero Waste Plan.  R3’s objective was to facilitate a contract that provides the City with a greater level of operational and financial accountability from CSS and resolves outstanding matters of dispute, including amounts owed to the City by CCC per the terms of the current contract.

For this engagement, R3 conducted the following main tasks:

  • Established clear objectives and refine initial positions with respect to the City’s key interests and desired outcomes from these negotiations;
  • Updated analysis of recyclables market conditions to provide the City with detailed cost estimates of hauling/processing recyclable materials at other facilities;
  • Led negotiation sessions with the City and CCC over the course of three half day negotiations;
  • Attended meetings with City staff, prepared negotiation session agendas, and attended negotiation sessions (phone and in-person);
  • Reviewed and analyzed cost and program data presented by CCC and made recommendations to City staff;
  • Drafted a new recyclables processing agreement for review by the City and CCC;
  • Facilitated five (5) rounds of revision and comment by the City and CCC; and
  • Assisted City staff in the preparation of a staff report to the Council presenting the results of these contract negotiations.

As a result of R3’s assistance, the City gained the following benefits:

  • Excel workbook of recyclables market conditions estimating hauling/processing costs for three alternative recyclables processing facilities;
  • Negotiation and finalization of a short-term contract between the City and CCC that clearly addressed CCC’s operational and financial accountability;
  • Creation of a compensation structure that takes into account revenues lost from the impacts from China’s National Sword while providing assurances for the City that its hauler will be able to collect and market materials;
  • Resolution of the amounts owed by CCC to the City per the contract (~$800,000);
  • Cessation of CCC’s periodic requests for special payments from the City, which had been made outside the terms of the current agreement; and
  • The creation of a coterminous Agreement with the City’s Agreement with Ecology Center for the City to make an educated decision of the future of its Agreements.
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Rolling Hills Estates – Performance Review

In early 2016, R3 was engaged by the City of Rolling Hills Estates (City) to conduct a Performance Review of their franchised hauler, Waste Management (WM), with the objective of assessing WM’s collection operations prior to the Franchise Agreement’s (Agreement) expiration.

Overall, WM received a positive review, although R3 found that they were out of compliance on vehicle weights and diversion standards, and they were substantially undercharging for manure collection and processing, which in turn negatively impacted their other required services.

Rather than seeking competitive bids, the City opted to work with the hauler to correct the compliance violations and renegotiate the contract, because of the City’s unique service requirements (e.g., unlimited multiple container sizes for recycling and organics at no cost; required use of smaller collection trucks; and required no-cost service for hard-to-service areas). R3 subsequently worked on the City’s behalf to negotiate the new Agreement, which assists the City in complying with state legislation (e.g., AB 939, AB 341, AB 1826, and AB 1594), prevents negative impacts on customer rates, and includes these beneficial features: a very specific public education program; a contamination monitoring and reporting program; and universal rollout of organics to all commercial and multi-family customers as a base service requirement.

R3 is currently assisting the City with modernizing and streamlining the language in the City’s municipal code to include legislative requirements for recycling and organics diversion (AB 341, AB 1826, SB 1383, and AB 1594).

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Half Moon Bay – Full Service Procurement Assistance

R3 was engaged by the City of Half Moon Bay to provide full service assistance with the City’s procurement of solid waste collection and street sweeping services. The City identified the following goals, among others, which R3 addressed as part of the RFP process:

  • Improving the quality of contractor reporting content, including tracking of special events and public education activities undertaken by the contractor;
  • Considering the possibility of new customer rate structures;
  • Potentially implementing a “Vehicle Impact Fee” to recover the cost of street deterioration caused by collection operations;
  • Exploring new programs such as residential organics, and expanded commercial organics collection, and including applicable program requirements as part of the RFP process;
  • Considering street sweeping schedule changes to meet the requirements of new storm water plans.

R3’s procurement assistance services for the City included:

  • Reviewing City and current contractor resource documents, working with stakeholders, and compiling the RFP package;
  • Developing collection program requirements, the franchise agreement, minimum contractor qualifications, and a mailing list of potential proposers;
  • Preparing evaluation criteria, providing written responses to questions submitted regarding the RFP, and preparing addenda as necessary;
  • Conducting the pre-proposal meeting, evaluating responses, conducting interviews, and checking references of proposers;
  • Attending City Council meetings, assisting with the presentation of the results of the evaluation process and staff recommendations, and finalizing the franchise agreement.

As a result of R3’s assistance, the City gained the following at the conclusion of the procurement process:

  • A dedicated recycling specialist;
  • Food waste collection and processing for all customers;
  • Two HHW drop-off collection events for the City; and
  • An implementation plan designed to lay out the foundation for new services and facilitate a smooth transition before the start of the new contract.

 

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