Protest Causes Fairfax County, Va., to Terminate E-waste Contract

Fairfax County, Va., terminated its contract for electronic waste collection services after an area recycling company, Securis, filed a protest against the county over the way it handled its bidding process.

Back in March, the county issued a request for proposals and initially awarded a contract to North Carolina-based company Powerhouse Recycling over Securis, which handled Fairfax County’s e-waste collection and disposal work since 2017 as a subcontractor for the nonprofit ServiceSource. In July, the county awarded the contract to Powerhouse on the grounds that it offered a better financial deal.

ServiceSource’s contract expired on June 30, and as a nonprofit, ServiceSource can contract with Fairfax County without undergoing the competitive bidding process. However, Securis is a for-profit company, so Fairfax County determined that it would need to compete for a new contract.

Fairfax County Times has more:

Fairfax County has terminated a contract for electronic waste collection, recycling, and disposal services after the local recycling company Securis filed a protest against the county for how it handled the competitive bid process.

After issuing a request for proposals on Mar. 20, the county initially awarded a contract to the North Carolina-based company Powerhouse Recycling over Securis in July on the grounds that its analysis found the out-of-state option offered a better financial deal.

Securis, however, had handled Fairfax County’s e-waste collection and disposal work since 2017 as a subcontractor for the nonprofit ServiceSource, which provides employment opportunities for people with disabilities and had contracted with the county since 2000.

Read the full article here.