Maine Group Approves RFQ for Review of Facility

The Board of Directors of Regional Waste Systems, a non-profit solid waste management corporation that serves 27 cities and towns in Maine, has approved a Request for Qualifications as part of an effort to find the most qualified organizations in the country to perform a strategic review of the recycling and solid waste facility.

The RFQ process, approved by the full RWS Board on July 10, is aimed at paring down the list of potential organizations before a Request for Proposals is issued. The deadline for responses to the RFQ is August 4, 2003.

The subcommittee will review each RFQ using criteria for rating each of the applicants. That process may include conducting interviews. Applicants must be free of any potential conflicts of interests. The RWS Board may then issue a RFP to the applicants deemed to be best qualified by the subcommittee.

The RWS Board will be looking for an organization, or a team of experts, that can show professional knowledge and expertise in all aspects of solid waste management, including the requisite skills in management, finance, law, accounting, engineering and operation, as each applies to a solid waste system.

To review the RFQ and the Scope of the Strategic Review, click on the following link -- Request for Qualification

The selected applicant will be expected to begin work within two weeks of signing a contract with RWS. The RWS Board has targeted completion of the strategic review no later than March 18, 2004.

The strategic review, approved by the Board last month, will look at virtually every aspect of the RWS facility, including management, finances and operations.

The need for a strategic review has been prompted by a number of factors that have impacted municipal solid waste management in Maine since the formation of the current RWS system in the mid 1980s. Factors include:

U.S. Supreme Court decision that made flow control ordinances unenforceable.

Deregulation of the electric industry in Maine.

Establishment of state recycling goals and municipal commitment to recycling.

Consolidation of waste haulers, with significant haulers also owning waste facilities, including landfills, transfer stations and incinerators.

Diversion of commercial solid waste from RWS to waste facilities owned by the major haulers.

The comprehensive review will examine the dynamics of municipal solid waste disposal and include a strategic plan for comprehensive management of solid waste in RWS member municipalities. The experts will be asked to recommend a business model and financial and governance structure that RWS should adopt in order to successfully function in the business environment in the solid waste industry which exists and is predicted to exist in the next 10 years.

RWS, a non-profit municipal solid waste and recycling organization owned and controlled by 21 municipalities in southern Maine, accepts solid waste and recycled materials from its member communities and operates the largest municipal recycling program in Maine with more than 100 recycling bins in 60 locations.