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Board of Commissioners SWDD Meeting Minutes-Final June 18,2024 <br /> Attachments: Staff Report <br /> Response to FCC Protest <br /> Response to Coastal Appeal and Protest <br /> Purchasing Manager Jennifer Hyde began her slide presentation to the Board with <br /> a recap of the timeline which led to the Solid Waste Disposal District's(SWDD) <br /> decision to award the solid waste collection services contract to Waste <br /> Management(WM)on May 21,2024.Following the decision,protests were <br /> filed by two of the bidders,FCC Environmental(FCC)and Coastal Waste& <br /> Recycling of Florida(Coastal),regarding the procedure followed during the RFP <br /> (Request for Proposal)and BAFO(Best and Final Offer)negotiations.Ms. <br /> Hyde's presentation continued by enumerating the vendors'assertions and <br /> countering with staffs response in denial of the protest.Ms.Hyde requested the <br /> Board hear the appeals to the protests and either uphold or deny the decision. <br /> Vice President of Business Development for FCC Charles Merkley appeared <br /> before the Board to highlight information he described as unfair and flawed.His <br /> protest challenged the basis the review panel used to re-rank the firms,the lack of <br /> negotiation during the BAFO period,omission of capabilities consideration,and <br /> the methodology WM used to drop their costs by 25 to 50 percent off of their <br /> supposedly best offer.He suggested either starting the RFP process over,or <br /> re-entering negotiations with the top two vendors as the manner in which the <br /> BAFO had been executed unfairly and changed the RFP into a request to bid. <br /> Attorney for Coastal,Joe Goldstein,Shutts and Bowen,requested the Board <br /> re-look at the procedure followed,specifically regarding the basis for rankings <br /> made at the second meeting,and the exclusion of Coastal from the BAFO even <br /> though they were tied for second place.He also questioned how WM was able to <br /> drastically lower their price,and cautioned accepting their offer would set a bad <br /> precedent as future vendors would not submit their best prices to future RFPs. <br /> Attorney Goldstein requested the issuance of a new RFP based on the final <br /> options chosen by the Board. <br /> The Board entered into discussion regarding the RFP and BAFO,recapping the <br /> Board and public meetings which explained the process and goal of achieving the <br /> best possible price.SWDD Managing Director Himanshu Mehta confirmed the <br /> proposals were all sufficient in terms of quality,and the only thing left to negotiate <br /> was price,hence the BAFO request.The Board agreed they were surprised <br /> regarding WM's pricing,however they declined to second guess the vendor's <br /> strategy.The Commissioners stood by the process and expressed trust in staffs <br /> handling of the selection process.Director Mehta confirmed there were provisions <br /> to monitor and address WM's service under the new contract. <br /> Indian River County Florida Page 2 <br />