The Contract is down to Green Waste and FCC. The staff of the WPWMA has inexplicably recommended FCC. There is no way that the staff of the WPWMA did any due diligence.
Please note the language in the RFP (Request for Proposal), it is very clear:
Proposal Section 10 – Legal Compliance and History
State with particularity how and why the Proposal complies with applicable public contracting laws, including, without limitation, the specific California statutory provision(s) that Proposer is relying on for that determination.
Describe all civil legal actions with government agencies or current/former facility owners now pending or which have occurred in the past ten (10) years with the potential liability or actual damages greater than $50,000; any actions involving allegations or findings of bribery or public corruption; and all criminal legal actions now pending or that have occurred in the past ten (10) years against the entity submitting the RFP and any parent or affiliated company for actions filed in the United States.
<<<SNIP>>>
Western Placer Waste Management Authority
Request for Proposals for Recovery Facilities Conceptual Designs and Operational Services
Describe any illegal or unethical practices discovered within the Proposer’s firm in the last ten (10) years and describe actions taken to eliminate these practices. Include a corporate resolution or ethics code that demonstrates the prospective Proposer’s commitment to ethical and legal business practices.
Allow your intrepid blogger to fill these in. (Based ONLY on what I know from my limited research)
Fines and hundreds of screw ups in Orange County Florida.
A $160,000 Fine in Washington that was reduced to $119K on Appeal.
Delaware regulators shutting down a plant in Wilmington
A $425 Million Lawsuit in Utah
World Bank Debarment from 2019-2021
Bribery allegations in Mississippi
Bribery charges in Panama
Fraud and Bid-Rigging Charges in Colombia
Suing Panama’s Government to get out of a contract
BONUS:
Based in Spain. No experience in California’s extreme regulatory environment
Promoting and selling an age old failed process that produces overwhelming, foul odors and sometimes produces compost that is toxic.
There is no way that the Staff of the WPWMA did any due diligence. Worse, it appears they played games with releasing their recommendation of FCC, waiting until the late afternoon of a Friday before a Holiday week.
So, this is what smells – the Staff of the district played games, there is alleged to be some sort of junket to Spain coming pending acceptance of the contract with FCC and then the pattern of FCC all over the world.
One City – Forth Worth Texas did not get taken in by the corporate big-timing of FCC. From an article dated 11-9-2021:
This comes despite at least one company, FCC Environmental Services, estimating it could save the city $60 million in that time period.
Assistant City Manager Valerie Washington said in an interview with the Fort Worth Report before the council meeting that it is easy for competitors to make such claims when they don’t have to back them up.
It appears that Fort Worth learned from Houston, who did sign up with FCC and promptly got a rate increase request from FCC because their rates were below market.
“Again, I think it’s easier for a competitor to say, ‘Yep, we can come in and do it for way cheaper,’ but understanding the structure of our solid waste and how we do it here in the city of Fort Worth, that’s a hefty ask. We ask for a lot from our vendors, especially when it comes to our solid waste services and our diversion-based strategies. We want to preserve the life of the landfill,” Washington said.
(Washington is the City Manager of Fort Worth)
I think the Board of the WPWMA need to address the myriad issues with FCC head on and award the contract to the California-Based Green Waste people.
Then, once the contract is awarded, the staff of that district need to be held accountable for what they did. Where was the due diligence? There needs to be a full investigation to determine if it was simply a miss and a failure to do the job or if there was something else at play there.
I hope by the time this blog is read that the board will have dodged a potential disaster for the County of Placer.