Jackson issues new request for proposals for garbage pick up

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Proposals for residential garbage pickup in the city of Jackson are due at 3 p.m., November 23.

Jackson’s Public Works Department issued a request for proposals (RFP) for solid waste collections on October 21. The RFP comes about a month after the city entered into a six-month emergency contract with Waste Management to provide services through March.

Under terms, the contractor hired will be required to pick up residential waste twice a week, and will be required to pick up yard waste on the second pick up day.

RFPs are issued to seek proposals for professional services, such as garbage collections. Once proposals are received, they’ll be evaluated and the winning proposal will be taken to the council. The city hopes to notify the winning bidder by December 15, and hope to take the winning contract to the city council January 4.

A copy of the evaluation schedule is shown below:

The request addresses some of the major concerns Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba had with the previous Waste Management contract, including the use of temp staff to fill positions.

Waste Management’s contract expired September 30.

The firm was kept on under an emergency order after the council rejected the mayor’s proposal to hire FCC Environmental Services and after Lumumba refused to continue talks to enter into a new contract with Waste management.

Lumumba was opposed to Waste Management, in part, because he said workers were kept on as temp staff for years. He also said that workers were mistreated, and had told him they were threatening to strike.

The RFP attempts to alleviate that concern.

Among provisions, it mandates that within one year of the contract being executed, 75 percent of all company employees providing collection services must be full-time. Full-time is considered 30 hours a week or 130 hours a month.

The scope of work also includes several provisions that the mayor touted as part of the failed contract with FCC, such as the requirement for all residents to have uniform 96-gallon trash bins, a guarantee that two hoppers are assigned to work each truck, and that GPS technology is used to monitor collection activity.

According to the RFP, the service provider will ensure collection vehicles are staffed with a driver and two hoppers at all times. For each violation, the contractor will be required to pay the city a $1,000 “performance fee payment.”

The proposal also includes rules for rate adjustments based on the annual consumer price index.

Many council members were shocked when the FCC contract was presented to them this summer, due to the increase for trash pickup. The administration pointed out that the fee had not been increased in more than a decade.

Another reason costs were higher was becuase of FCC’s proposal to charge residents for the required 96-gallon trash bins. The bins would have raised contract costs by $3,217,272.56, or around $60 per household.

Here are some other provisions included in the RFP:

• The company must maintain a local office in Jackson, that will be staffed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• The company shall pick up all blown, littered and broken material resulting from its collection and hauling operations
• The firm hired shall not enter into an subcontracts, leases or other agreements pertaining to the garbage pickup without written consent of the city
• 96-gallon trash carts are to be provided to residents and replaced at the contractor’s cost
• Provide monthly litter pickups and illegal dumping removal.

Jackson has a population of 153,701 people. On average, 54,286 tons of waste are collected and deposited in a landfill owned and operated by Waste Management. The current cost to dispose the waste is $27.56 per ton.

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