Many programs are coming out of a long term contract cycle and may not have had to draft an RFP or tender for years or even a decade. Staff and Council may have turned over and many municipal folks have never been involved in the waste management procurement process before.
If this sounds like you, take a look below at the timeline of an RFP, completed with the help of CIF staff, that was designed to help a City switch its depots from roll-off service to front end load bins. Here’s what you want to note: under ideal conditions, from concept to completion the project took 16 months with approximately:
- 2.5 months from start up to publishing the RFP plus
- 2 months for bidders to respond plus
- 1.5 months to evaluate the RFP, sign a contract and issue a purchase order plus
- 10 months to prepare the sites, acquire and set up equipment and develop/deliver P&E for the conversion.
Writing and Executing RFPs Take Time
The RFP timeframe outlined below was for a reasonably straightforward project. And… keep in mind that there was no delay completing any of the steps below. Will you be that lucky with your Council meeting schedule, staff vacations, legal and purchasing department input, equipment/trucks order/delivery and the myriad of steps from concept to completion? It’s smart to assume you won’t and best to plan for delays.
| Representative RFP Timing | |||
| # | Item | Responsibility | Completed |
| 1 |
Contact CIF for procurement support
|
CITY | May-3 |
| 2 |
Kickoff conference call
|
All | May-15 |
| 3 |
Deliver draft RFP
|
CIF | May-30 |
| 4 |
RFP review, edits, questions, comments & Council report
|
CITY | Jun-07 |
| 5 |
Con call to review draft RFP
|
All | Jun-12 |
| 6 |
Deliver RFP draft final & draft evaluation score sheets
|
CIF | Jun-20 |
| 7 |
RFP review, edits, questions, comments
|
CITY | Jul-03 |
| 8 |
Deliver RFP final
|
CIF | Jul-10 |
| 9 |
Publish RFP
|
CITY | Jul-12 |
| 10 |
Evaluation team training session @ CITY
|
All | Aug-29 |
| 11 |
Addenda & site visits if required
|
CITY | Sep-05 |
| 12 |
RFP closing
|
CITY | Sep-12 |
| 13 |
Revised rfp evaluation spreadsheets
|
CIF | Sep-14 |
| 14 |
RFP evaluation
|
CITY | Sep-16 |
| 15 |
RFP council report
|
CITY | Sep-26 |
| 16 |
CITY Council Mtg. & award of contract
|
CITY | Oct-15 |
| 17 |
Finalize Contract – issue P/O
|
CITY | Oct-30 |
| 18 |
Order bins
|
Contractor | Nov-07 |
| 19 |
Prepare depots for bin switch
|
CITY | Oct-Jan |
| 20 |
Prepare P&E for residents re: switch
|
CITY | Nov-Jan |
| 21 |
Delivery & comissioning bins, finalize service schedule
|
CITY | Feb-Apr |
| 22 |
Sequential start @ depots when ready
|
CITY | Mar-May |
| 23 |
Full P&E campaign re: changes & closures
|
CITY | Mar-Sep |
Plan Ahead and Start Early
Copy the table above into MS Word or Excel, then customize the tasks and timing to build out your own schedule that will take your RFP/tender from concept to contract. Once you’ve done that – if you find you don’t have enough time to complete all the steps, consider negotiating an extension for your current contract. But of course – you don’t want to leave this to the last minute either if you want to achieve the best results for your municipality…
Remember, when it comes to waste management procurement, the clock is always ticking!
Contact CIF Staff
CIF staff are always ready to help. We encourage you to contact any member of the team to discuss your issues and questions.