Contact: Adrian Lee, ext 7004 email: [email protected]

1. Introduction

1.1 The collection and processing infrastructure is now in place for the County Council to achieve a recycling target of 40%. What is now needed is to encourage behavioural change amongst residents to increase the range and frequency of recycling at the kerbside. If all areas could achieve current best practice in the county the diversion of waste to recycling in kerbside collections could be doubled. In order to help achieve this, Project Integra partners have embarked upon a Behavioural Change Strategy which is partly funded by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). Part of the strategy involves direct face to face contact with residents - `doorstepping' to advise them what materials can be recycled and how they can recycle them.

2. Contract Description

2.1 The County Council invited expressions of interest from suitably qualified and experienced candidates who wished to be considered for inclusion on a select tender list of Consultants to undertake communications delivery activities for Project Integra's Behavioural Change Strategy. The contract includes two key elements, the doorstepping programme (including monitoring) and training for collection crew and support staff.

2.2 The contract has been developed as a framework contract to enable the delivery of the WRAP funded elements of the Behavioural Change Strategy which have to be delivered by March 2006. However, the framework process enables flexibility and will enable the Behavioural Change Strategy to be developed on a longer term basis. In order to allow for this long term development, the contract will be for one year (until March 2006) with the option to extend for a further two years, if funding can be identified.

2.3 The overall value of the work in 2005/06 is up to £500,000, although the contract will be divided into smaller contracts on a call-off basis under the doorstepping and training elements. The first of those contracts are for doorstepping in Basingstoke, Rushmoor, Havant, Portsmouth, Southampton and New Forest.

Doorstepping Programme

2.4 A major element of the Behavioural Change Strategy is the delivery of communication activities in a number of target areas, with funding from WRAP to carry the County Council's doorstepping activities to 10% of Project Integra households (ie approximately 60,000 households).

2.5 A team of Recycling Advisers, recruited from the local area, will be knocking on doors to speak to local residents to find out how to make the most effective use of their kerbside recycling container and encourage more people to recycle more materials, more frequently.

2.6 Six pilot areas have been selected in areas where there is the greatest potential to increase the recycling rate. The pilot areas are in the following local authority areas - Rushmoor, Basingstoke, Portsmouth, Havant, Southampton and New Forest - and there are up to 17,000 households in each pilot area.

2.7 In order to identify which households to target and evaluate the impact of the doorstepping programme, an extensive monitoring programme will be undertaken before and after the doorstepping activity.

2.8 The monitoring will assess the following:

(i) participation rates;

(ii) the range of materials collected for recycling;

(iii) the extent to which the bin is full; and

(iv) the presence and type of any contamination.

2.9 During September and October 2005 the monitoring programme will then be repeated in order to measure the effectiveness of the doorstepping programme and establish whether this method of face to face contact with residents has enabled and encouraged more people to recycle more materials, more frequently.

Training for Collection Crew and Support Staff

2.10 To enable collection crews, supervisors and support staff to play key roles in delivering the Behavioural Change Strategy, Project Integra is seeking to appoint a consultant to develop and deliver an ongoing programme of training. The main aims of the training will be to:

(i) communicate the aims and objectives of the Behavioural Change Strategy;

(ii) enable all staff to understand the importance of their role in delivering the strategy; and

(iii) deliver customer focused awareness training.

2.11 The training will need to be developed in consultation with Project Integra and be tailored for a variety of training needs for telephone support staff, collection crews, other operatives and officers.

Delivery Timetable

2.12 The programme will be delivered to the following timetable:

Monitoring programme	May-June 2005
Doorstepping programme	July-September 2005
Training for collection crew and support staff	July-October 2005
Post monitoring programme	Mid-September-October 2005

3. Procurement Process

3.1 Procurement has followed the appropriate Financial Regulations set out in part 3 (E) and the standing orders for contracts part 3 (F) of the County Council's constitution and has been delivered to the following timetable:

Advertised in the Official Journal of the European Communities	21 October 2004
Expressions of interest shortlisted	29 November 2004-13 January 2005
Tender submissions deadline	24 February 2005
Tender evaluation	25 February-4 March 2005
Consultant interviews	3-4 March 2005
Consultants short-listed to be included on a call-off list for doorstepping and a call-off list for training activities.	4 March 2005

3.2 Following advertisement, six consultants were invited to tender for the contracts. In response, five consultants tendered for the doorstepping element and five tendered for the training contract.

3.3 All bids were assessed against price and quality. The quality element considered the consultants previous experience, response to the brief, innovative thinking and general competencies for the task. Details of the assessment framework are included as Appendices 1 and 2. Details of the overall assessment of the doorstepping tender are included in confidential Appendix 3, and is summarised below.

3.4 Five companies tendered for the doorstepping (and monitoring) element of the project. The assessment of the tenders was based upon quality (40%) and price (60%). It is proposed that the three companies that scored the highest aggregated mark are included on the call-off list for the delivery of the Behavioural Change Strategy doorstepping programme. These are companies A (62), C (69) and E (98) on the attached evaluation sheet. Whilst company D also scored 62 in the aggregated scores for price and quality, this company scored very poorly on the quality element of the evaluation, being 30 points behind the next nearest company (A), and therefore has not been recommended for the call-off list. The company that received the lowest aggregated score was company B (24). Five companies tendered for the training element of the project and the tender assessment was based upon quality only (100%). It is proposed that the three companies which scored the highest mark for quality are included on the call-off list for delivery of the training element of the Behavioural Change Strategy. As shown on the attached evaluation sheet these are companies A (66), C (82) and E (86). The next nearest score was awarded to company B (59).

3.5 The following consultants were considered to have met the basic requirements for quality and competency and offered best value:

(i) Business Eco Network

(ii) Community Recycling Services

(iii) Environmental Resources Management.

Recommendation

That to assist delivery of Project Integra's £1.6 million Behavioural Change Strategy, a framework contract be awarded to Business Eco Network, Community Recycling Services and Environmental Resources Management for expenditure of up to £500,000 for doorstepping and training work over a three year period.

397Rpt/AWL

Assess to Standard Table (Doorstepping Programme Tender)

Overall Assessment

60% Price 40% Quality

ASSESSED STANDARD TABLE (TRAINING PROGRAMME TENDER)

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

100% Quality