Hilltops Council has not disclosed, in their May Business paper, the financial cost of Council’s approval of a 5 year extension of a contract regarding Council’s involvement in the South West Regional Waste Management Group Bulk Waste Haulage.
Under the ‘Financial Implications’ heading, Council stated “Funding is sourced by the Group through direct invoicing for kilometre travelled and penalties if applicable (time etc). The waste levies based on tonnages delivered is the other source of income that funds – ongoing trailer maintenance and the cost of haulage itself.”
The Business paper stated, “To date the contract execution has been without any incident or issue precluding the extension of the contract from a serviceability and a trailer maintenance (looking after) perspective. All statutory and Council requirements have been also met. On this basis after consult with Group member representatives it is recommended to Council that the contract be extended for a further five (5) year period and that the General Manager be delegated the authority to execute this contractual extension.”
It went on to state, “The contract involves the transportation via the contractor’s prime mover of the current eight bulk waste trailers from the various Groups waste transfer stations located at Murrumbateman, Yass, Cootamundra, Tumbarumba, Young, Murrumburrah and the under-construction Boorowa facility. The bulk waste is transported from these transfer stations to the Ecofill landfill facility at Bald Hill, Jugiong.”
Council listed 2 possible risk implications which included, 1) “Not extending the contract, temporary haulage arrangement costs would be incurred while executing the next tender. Due to the nature of the hydraulic system on the trailers, not all primer movers have a hydraulic oil capacity large enough to supply the trailers hydraulic ejection system, thus a temporarily replacement could be problematic.” and
2) “No guarantee that deployment of a new tender would result in a more cost-effective contract as compared to the current contract.”
There is no allowance whatsoever to test risk implication 2 if the contract doesn’t go to tender which it hasn’t in this instance.
By approving the contract, Council has prevented the market from being tested. It appears the initial contract signed 5 years ago came with an extension of 5 years which has been taken up by Council.
The Contract assessment team consisted of 3 staff members from Hilltops Council, 1 from Yass and 1 from Cootamundra Gundagai Council.
