Eleven Consortia responded to the European Journal advert for a recycling and residual waste treatment project in five councils in the UK. Six companies were selected to participate in a competitive dialogue process and as a result, a short list of companies has been invited to participate in detailed competitive dialogue:

• Amey Cespa (Ferrovial Group),
• Balfour Beatty/Urbaser (ACS Group),
• FCC Waste Services,
• Viridor.

The five partner councils are East Dunbartonshire Council, East Renfrewshire Council, North Ayrshire Council, North Lanarkshire Council and Renfrewshire Council. North Lanarkshire Council is the lead authority for the process.

The target service commencement date is December 2019 but the partner councils will consider an earlier service commencement date if it represent value for money.

Project Programme:

• Final Tender Clarification and Evaluation: October, December 2014
• Tender award decision and Financial Close/Contract Award:  January 2015 - July 2015
• Target Service Commencement: December 2019

It is anticipated that the partner councils will require to treat around 190,000 tonnages of waste. 

The concept is that each council will deliver waste to a transfer station within their area. The contractor will operate the facilities on behalf of the councils. The contractor will then transport this to the site of the primary treatment facility where recyclable material will be removed from the waste. The secondary treatment which can be carried out either locally or at a remote site will then be carried out in order to achieve the landfill diversion required by the contract.

The councils hired the following professional advisors: Pinsent Masons (Legal), SLR Consulting (Technical) and Grant Thornton (Finance).