|
Leon County
Board of County Commissioners Cover Sheet for Agenda #13 May 10, 2022 |
| To: | Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board |
| From: | Vincent S. Long, County Administrator |
| Title: | Approval of Award for the Leon County Solid Waste Yard Debris Processing Contract |
| Review and Approval: | Vincent S. Long, County Administrator |
|
Department/Division Review and Approval: |
Alan Rosenzweig, Deputy County Administrator Maggie Theriot, Director, Resource Stewardship Scott Ross, Director, Financial Stewardship |
|
Lead Staff/ Project Team: |
Shelly Kelley, Director, Purchasing Cassie Griffith, Manager, Solid Waste Division DJ Newsome, Landfill Supervisor, Solid Waste Division |
Statement of Issue:
This item seeks Board approval to award the Leon County Solid Waste yard debris processing contract to Jimmie Crowder Excavating and Land Clearing, Inc. The pricing is broken down into tonnage rates for grinding, screening, and removal/hauling. Billing will be based off actual tons processed. This service is for routine yard waste collected, as storm debris is under a separate contract and vendor.
Fiscal Impact:
This item has a fiscal impact. This item has been budgeted and adequate funding is available in the respective operating budget.
Staff Recommendation:
Option #1: Approve the award for the Leon County solid waste yard debris processing contract to Jimmie Crowder Excavating and Land Clearing, Inc. (Attachment #1), and authorize the County Administrator to execute the Agreement, subject to legal review by the County Attorney.
Report and Discussion
Background:
This item seeks Board approval to award the Leon County solid waste yard debris processing contract to Jimmie Crowder Excavating and Land Clearing, Inc. Approximately 9,500 tons of yard debris are received annually at the County’s Solid Waste Facility. The previous contract was awarded to Larry Smith, LLC. in 2011, and shortly thereafter was renamed North Florida Wood Recycling, LLC. The contract with North Florida Wood Recycling and has been renewed until it’s expiration on March 31st, 2022. Board approval is recommended to provide continuity of services.
Yard debris is processed separately from standard garbage because the ability to recycle the natural materials. Furthermore the hauling and disposal of unprocessed yard debris is an inefficient practice due to the inability to tightly compact the woody materials in transit and burial. A contractor is responsible for the grinding, screening, and removal of the material as the equipment necessary to grind is costly and does not justify inhouse handling.
Invitation to Bid Number BC-2022-010 was advertised through OPENGOV Procurement and 1,635 vendors were notified on January 24, 2022. A total of 16 vendors requested bid packages, resulting in one bid received. The bid was opened on February 23, 2022. The only responsive bid received was from Jimmie Crowder Excavating and Land Clearing, Inc. All debris collected in the event of a declared storm or natural disaster are handled under separate contract for debris management and are not impacted by this yard debris processing contract.
Analysis:
Known as “yard debris”, material of leaves, sticks, trunks, and grass clippings are received and processed at the County’s Solid Waste Facility. Approximately 9,500 tons of yard debris are received annually from citizens, landscape businesses, Waste Pro, and City of Tallahassee. The County charges a tip fee, in part, to cover the cost of operations and processing. County staff use heavy equipment to create large piles of the material to then be processed by a vendor. The contractor is then responsible for the grinding, screening, and removal of the material. Equipment necessary to grind is costly and does not justify inhouse handling. Every four to six weeks the contractor transports a large mobile tub-grinder and an excavator to load material into the grinder. The ground product is then screened into small and medium pieces. The small material, known as “fines” are provided free of charge to residents at the Solid Waste Facility.
The larger coarse mulch is required to be processed in an environmentally beneficial way, such as serving as a soil amendment, being turned into mulch, potting mix, or boiler fuel. A requirement for the contract is to provide evidence of responsible disposal practices in the form of a fiber agreement that outlines the destination of the processed materials to be recycled; ensuring that the materials are being used in a sustainable manner, and not buried in a landfill. Once ground, the material has been historically hauled away by the vendor and repurposed as biofuel, which is used to generate steam and renewable electricity at the Albany Green Energy (AGE) plant in Albany, GA. As a component of the bid, Crowder proposes to ship the County’s material to serve as boiler fuel at a plant which makes wood pellets as a low carbon alternative to coal. Depending on the volume of yard debris received, the material is processed monthly on average to prevent decomposition, as the fresher the material the higher the heat producing biofuel potential of the woody fiber.
The pricing is broken down into tonnage rates for grinding, screening, and removal/hauling. Leon County does not guarantee a minimum tonnage for the contractor, so billing will be based off actual tons processed. The only responsive bid received was from Jimmie Crowder Excavating and Land Clearing, Inc. The bid is a net increase of $2.50 per ton processed over the prior agreement with North Florida Wood Recycling where rates remained unchanged since 2011.
|
Task |
Prior Rate |
Proposed Rate |
Rate increase |
|
Grinding |
$12.00 |
$14.00 |
$2.00 |
|
Screening |
$3.00 |
$3.00 |
$0 |
|
Removal/Hauling |
$7.50 |
$8.00 |
$0.50 |
|
Total |
$22.50 |
$25.00 |
$2.50 |
The Minority, Women, & Small Business Enterprise (MWSBE) Division recommended that there be no MWBE aspirational goals in this solicitation due to the limited possibilities for subcontracting. Subcontracting opportunities are limited for grinding and screening of yard debris. Subcontracting is not feasible because the debris services identified go beyond the hauling of yard debris. Staff has reviewed the current MWBE directories and currently there are no vendors certified to provide the grinding and screening services.
Upon Board approval, the Agreement will be executed to establish a start date of June 1, 2022, to ensure continuity of services. This is a one-year contract with the potential for four additional one-year periods at the County’s discretion.
Options:
Recommendation:
Option #1
Attachment: