Garden Waste Contract · UK public procurement notice

ELWA is procuring a contract for the provision of the following services (without limitation):

The scope of the Contract includes:

• Receiving and treating delivered Contract Waste, which is garden waste collected from households and commercial customers by the Constituent Councils, and from the Reuse & Recycling Centres;
• Contract Waste will be delivered to the Contractor Treatment Site(s) in bulk haulage vehicles by the RHRRC Contractor after the Contract Waste has been delivered by the Constituent Councils to one of the Authority WTSs;
• Provision of capacity to receive and treat and garden waste;
• Management and offtake of non-conforming waste, products and residues;
• Maximising the recycling and beneficial use of products; and
• Reporting and monitoring of environmental compliance.

Please see "Procedure description" section of this tender notice and the procurement documents for full details of:

1 - the single-stage, open procedure that ELWA is conducting pursuant to s. 20(2)(a) of the Procurement Act 2023; and

2 - ELWA's requirements for the Contract.

(Defined terms used in the above list of services are detailed in the draft contract and procurement documents.)

Please see the procurement documents for full details but, in summary, the open procedure will operate as follows:

1 - Bidders are required to complete and submit Conditions of Participation and Tenders. The purpose of the Conditions of Participation is for ELWA to ensure bidders meet a minimum level of compliance in order for their Tenders to be evaluated.

2 - ELWA will evaluate Conditions of Participation responses first. If bidders meet the minimum level of compliance in the Conditions of Participation, their Tenders will be evaluated in accordance with the ITT.

3 - ELWA intends to award the contract to the bidder that submits the most advantageous tender (following internal governance approval).

As detailed in the procurement documents, and pursuant to section 31 Procurement Act 2023, ELWA reserves the right to update or confirm aspects of the procurement process at any stage during the procurement; or circulate updated documents in respect of the procurement process prior to the tender submission deadline. If ELWA exercises these rights, it will clearly signpost updates to the documents and ELWA will revise and republish this tender notice.

The Authority conducted initial preliminary market engagement in December 2025 (Notice identifier: 2025/S 000-078835). As part of the exercise, the Authority published a Market Operator Briefing Note in which it explained the context of the procurement being a contract for treatment/processing of garden waste collected from households and commercial premises and management of off takers. Two organisations participated in this exercise and provided feedback in respect of:

• The Authority's procurement strategy;
• Assumptions for evaluation;
• Waste acceptance protocols and vehicles that can/cannot be accepted at facilities;
• Processes for identifying and recording contamination;
• Market operators' current compost/end product markets;
• Experiences of performance management frameworks; and
• Social value.

In the preliminary market engagement, it was clearly specified that participation in the preliminary market engagement was/is not a requirement for participation in this procurement.

The value is based on ELWA's estimate at the date of publication of the Tender Notice and the draft procurement documents and includes extension of the contract for two years following expiry of the initial three-year and three-month service delivery term. The estimated value also includes any services which may be required during the initial three-year and three-month service delivery period. Therefore, the estimated value is not necessarily the final value of the Contract and ELWA reserves the right to vary this contract value (either higher or lower) in the event the scope of the contract varies throughout its term. It is intended as a guide to Bidders and the actual value is intended to cover delivery of ELWA's requirements over the full possible term.