Benidorm will consult neighbors, social agents and companies in the sector about the services of the new collection and street cleaning contract

Benidorm City Council will ask citizens, business and social agents and companies in the sector to make their contributions on the characteristics and services that they consider that the new waste collection and street cleaning contract should contemplate. This is what the mayor, Toni Pérez, has advanced today, after a Board of Spokespersons in which the details of the process of the 'Preliminary Market Consultation' has been transferred to the groups of the Corporation, a formula contained in the Law of Public Sector Contracts and from which the City Council will prepare the Municipal Management Project and the specifications to tender the new contract.

The mayor explained that “initially, the technicians had proposed to articulate a‘ Competitive Dialogue ’process in which the companies that wanted to participate in the future tender had to provide an exploitation project. Later, a table made up of municipal technicians and members of the Corporation's political groups, local collectives and entities, and workers' representatives would define the bulk of the municipal management project ”.

However, “although this process was well advanced, the Covid-19 health crisis, which has brought new needs and conditions that must be taken into account, has led us to rethink the formula when drawing up the new contract, in which we also want citizen participation to be assured from the first moment. Hence, the ‘Preliminary Market Consultation’ has been chosen as the most suitable and guaranteed formula to establish what Benidorm needs and wants in relation to street cleaning and garbage collection ”.

Toni Pérez has indicated that this Consultation "will be developed in two blocks". The first is reserved for "social agents", and will participate in it: Abreca-Cobreca, Aico, Aptur, Hosbec associations and Benidorm and Comarca Property Administrators; as well as the Neighborhood Council, the works council of the current concessionaire and groups of the Corporation. The second block will be open to companies dedicated to the management of urban solid waste collection and / or urban cleaning, and to suppliers of products, equipment, systems or services linked to the object of the contract.

According to the mayor, "the participation of companies is completely voluntary, but experience in other municipalities confirms that it is usually important."

"This phase of the consultation - he has clarified - will allow us to know and assess the different options on the market to define a model of avant-garde and technologically advanced collection and cleaning services, which meets environmental objectives, meets demand, that it adapts to European regulations and that complies with the principles of technical and economic efficiency and effectiveness ”. "In short, having a contract tailored to measure and at the height of what the city needs and deserves and what its citizens and companies want," he stressed.

The intention of the local government is that the bases that will govern this process of ‘Preliminary Market Consultation’ are approved in full in December. Once published in the Contractor's Profile, social agents, political groups and companies will have one month to make their contributions. Subsequently, a Technical Committee will analyze all the proposals and prepare the Municipal Management Plan that will include the services to be provided and their cost, and which will include the most interesting and viable solutions from a technical and economic point of view.

The mayor has advanced that "the intention is that the bidding and awarding process be completed during the second half of the year, and that the new contract will be operational in early 2022". Meanwhile, and as established by the Contract Law, the current winner will continue to provide the service.

Some objectives of the new contract

Among the objectives of the new contract are the renewal of all equipment, incorporating more efficient and less polluting machinery; the incorporation of container sensorization systems and fleet and equipment management systems; the integration of all cleaning and waste management work in the city; that the company collectively collects garbage in accordance with European requirements and is responsible for cleaning the entire city. In addition, as a result of the health crisis, the possibility of incorporating disinfection of spaces into ordinary services is being considered.

With regard to personnel, the new awardee will have to subrogate the permanent workers of the current workforce and the workers who at that time have a contract in force.

How the participation of social agents will be

The participation of the social agents will be articulated through forms, in which "they will be asked about what services they think Benidorm needs and how they should be implemented". Thus, they will be consulted on the most appropriate selective collection systems, on the possibility of establishing compensation formulas for users who recycle the most and generate less waste; on the complementary services that can be included in the contract; or about establishing different cleaning schedules and frequencies in different parts of the city.