The City of Palm Bay’s Solid Waste Franchise Agreement with Waste Management will expire on September 30, 2020. The Agreement currently provides for once per week trash collection service by Waste Management. Under the current Agreement, customer service assistance and billing as well as the management and maintenance of cart inventory is handled by the City’s Public Works Department.

At the February 7, 2019 Regular Council Meeting, City Council decided not to renegotiate or renew the current contract with Waste Management and directed staff to conduct a competitive procurement solicitation process. In November 2019, the City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to identify the City’s current and future solid waste service needs, and to allow industry experts in the vendor community to propose the best solutions to meet those needs.

The City of Palm Bay received proposals from three vendors: Great Waste & Recycling, Republic Services of Florida, and Waste Pro of Florida. Waste Management provided a statement of no proposal. 

Vendors were asked to provide solid waste service proposals that included information on the firm’s qualifications, project approach and methodology, transition plan, and costs for the Base Proposal (twice per week residential trash service) and the Alternate Proposal (once per week residential trash service). The Base and Alternate Proposals also included requests for pricing for various levels of service, to include managing customer service and billing as well as the management and maintenance of the cart inventory program. Additionally, vendors were asked to provide options for varying cart sizes to meet the individual needs of residents, and to provide solutions for transitioning solid waste services as the City approaches the end of the current contract with Waste Management on September 30, 2020. 

As part of the RFP process, a five-member evaluation team comprised of representatives from the City of Palm Bay Finance Department, Utilities Department, Public Works Department, and City Manager’s Office met to review the vendor proposals. Through a series of evaluation team meetings and vendor presentations, the proposals were scored with Republic Services ranking the highest for both the Base and Alternate Proposals. 

RFP documents are available for review at www.pbfl.org/SolidWasteRFP

Under the current contract, single-family homes in Palm Bay pay $12.30 per month for once per week collection, a rate that has not been adjusted since 2015. To provide the City options, vendors were asked to provide once and twice per week residential service levels for an estimated 41,000 residential customer accounts. The following table provides a rate comparison for each vendor. The scoring is not based solely on the residential rate but also factors in commercial rates, as well as several important factors including industry experience and vendor transition plan, as described above.     

Residential Base Proposal: 2x Week Solid Waste; 1x Week Recycling and Yard Waste Pickup
(Based on 41,000 Accounts)

Residential Alternate Proposal: 1x Week Solid Waste; 1x Week Recycling and Yard Waste Pickup
(Based on 41,000 Accounts)

City staff will present the results of the solid waste services RFP to City Council at a future meeting, date to be announced, and request authorization to negotiate an agreement with the vendor, which will be brought back for City Council consideration at a future meeting.