HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrder 015 - Reject Proposals - HH Waste SvcsDeschutes County Board of Commissioners
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AGENDA REQUEST & STAFF REPORT
For Board Business Meeting of February 13, 2008
Please see directions for completing this document on the next page.
DATE: February 6, 2008
FROM: Timm Schimke Department of Solid Waste 317-3177
TITLE OF AGENDA ITEM:
Consideration of Signature of Order No. 2008-015 Rejecting All Proposals and Authorizing Reissuance
of a Request for Proposals for Household Hazardous Waste Services
PUBLIC HEARING ON THIS DATE? No.
BACKGROUND AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS:
On Monday, December 17, 2007, the Board of County Commissioners issued a Notice of Intent to
Award Contact to Clean Harbors Environmental Services (Clean Harbors) for services related to the
operation of the Household and Conditionally Exempt Hazardous Waste Management Program.
Review of the proposal evaluation and scoring documetation by Philips Services Corporation (PSC),
the unsuccsessful proposer, revealed a mathmatical error which could have changed the results of the
proposal scoring.
PSC filed a protest to the award as outlined in the Notice of Intent to Award Contract. Legal review of
the protest revealed conflicting information between the Notice of Intent to Award Contract and
Deschutes County Code which left the validity of the protest in question. PSC subsequently filed a
Complaint for Judicial Review. Clean Harbors has indicated that they will likely bring legal action
should PSC's protest be successful.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Fiscal impacts due to potential legal action is unknown at this time. It is likely that reissuing the
request for proposals will result in the most competitive pricing
RECOMMENDATION & ACTION REQUESTED:
Staff recommends signature of Order No. 2008-015 canceling the solicitation for operation of toe
Household and Conditionally Exempt Generator Hazardous Waste Management Porgram and directing
staff to to reissue the request for proposals for the program. This recommendation is based on the
provisions of OAR 137-047-0650 which provides for such action in the event of errors in the
procurement process and/or other circumstances indicating that awarding of the contract would not be
in the public interest. This is a very defensible approach to the situationm that we feel is clearl z in the
public's best interest.
ATTENDANCE: Timm Schimke.
DISTRIBUTION OF DOCUMENTS:
Copies to be mailed to:
Clean Harbors Environmental Services, Inc.
19320 Des Moines Memorial Drive, Suite 300
Seatac, WA 98148
Attn: Keith Gehring
Ph: (206) 429-9100
Fax: (206) 429-9125
Philip Services Corporation
18000 72nd Avs. S., Suite 217
Kent, WA 98032
Attn: Mike O'Donnell
Ph: (425) 204-7052
Fax: (425) 204-7164
REVIEWED
LEGAL COUNSEL
For Recording Stamp Only
BEFORE THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF DESCHUTES COUNTY, OREGON
ACTING AS THE LOCAL CONTRACT REVIEW BOARD
An Order Rejecting All Proposals and Authorizing
Reissuance of a Request for Proposals for
Household Hazardous Waste Service
*
*
ORDER NO. 2008-015
WHEREAS, the County has adopted the Oregon Attorney General's Model Public Contracting Rules
(Model Rules), as currently set forth in OAR 137, divisions 46, 47, 48 and 49; and
WHEREAS, the Model Rules specify a protest period of 7 -days after a notice of intent to award; and
WHEREAS, the County issued a request for proposals (RFP) to provide treatment of household
hazardous waste received at the County landfill, such solicitation setting forth requirements and selection
criteria; and
WHEREAS, the County determined that of the two proposals submitted, the proposal by Clean Hvrbors
Environmental Services (Clean Harbors) was better than Phillips Services Corporation (PSC) and th is on
December 17 awarded a contract to Clean Harbors; and
WHEREAS, the notice of intent to award used in connection with this RFP advised the propose -s that
protests to the award needed to be received within seven days or December 24, despite an inconsistent ( ounty
Code provisions specifying a 3 -day protest period; and
WHEREAS, PSC submitted a written protest of the award on December 24, which was later than the
County Code -specified 3 -day period, but within the 7 -day protest period announced as part of the notice of
intent to award (based upon the Model Rules); and
WHEREAS, the PSC protest was based upon (and County staff has confirmed) a mistake that had been
made in calculating the price comparisons of the two proposals and that in the absence of such mistake, PSC
would have been determined to be the better proposal; and
WHEREAS, the Board, acting in its capacity as the Local Contract Review Board, and bast d upon
advice of staff finds and determines that it is in public interest to intervene in this solicitation; now, there 'ore,
THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF DESCHUTES COUNTY, OREGON, ACTING
IN ITS CAPACITY AS THE LOCAL CONTRACT REVIEW BOARD HEREBY FINDS CONCLUDES AND
ORDERS as follows:
Section 1. The Board finds that there was material error in the procurement process. The mistaken
calculations of price components as part of the comparison of the two proposers appears to have significantly
affected the evaluation and ultimate award of the contract. Based upon the price comparison used in evaluating
the two proposals, it appears that Clean Harbors prices were significantly higher (not lower) than PSC s prices.
The County also gave conflicting information relative to the appropriate timeframe for lodging a protest. These
errors appear to have been inadvertent. However, such errors threaten the integrity of this procurement process
and could result in the taxpayers paying significantly more for household hazardous waste service.
PAGE 1 OF 2- ORDER NO. 2008-015 (02/13/2008)
PSC filed a protest later than three days after the contract award, but within the timeframe mistakenly
set forth in the notice of intent to award. PSC's protest correctly identified the price comparison miscalculation.
The contract award to Clean Harbors appears to be legally vulnerable. The Board finds that under these
circumstances it is in the public interest to reject all proposals.
Section 2. Pursuant to the OAR 137-047-0650 and based upon the findings set forth in Section 1, the
Board hereby rejects all proposals submitted in response to the RFP for Household Hazardous Waste.
Section 3. The Purchasing Agent is authorized to reissue the RFP for Household Hazardous Waste
processing service.
DATED this day of , 2008.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
OF DESCHUTES COUNTY, OREGON
DENNIS R. LUKE, Chair
ATTEST: TAMMY (BANEY) MELTON, Commissioner
Recording Secretary MICHAEL M. DALY, Commissioner
PAGE 2 OF 2- ORDER No. 2008-015 (02/13/2008)