Posted on: Friday, June 3, 2005

Curb recycling hits a new snag

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Honolulu's plan to start a long-delayed curbside recycling program next month likely will be put on hold again now that one of three firms that bid on the project has filed a protest, a city spokesman said yesterday.

Three companies bid for the five-year contract to provide the residential curbside pickup of cans, bottles and newspapers. The bids were opened May 20, and officials were reviewing the proposals when Island Recycling Inc. lodged its protest on May 27, said city spokesman Bill Brennan.

Brennan said Island Recycling is questioning the qualifications of the apparent low bidder, Rolloffs Hawai'i/BLT Enterprises. In its bid, Island Recycling proposed to charge the city from $33 to $35 a ton, while Rolloffs Hawai'i offered to pay the city $5 a ton for recyclables.

A third firm, Honolulu Recovery Systems, proposed charging the city from $79 to $88 per ton.

Officials with Island Recycling and Rolloffs Hawai'i could not be reached for comment last night.

The city had hoped to begin the program in Mililani in July, but Brennan said the protest "has the effect of staying further action on the award of the contract." He said he did not know how long the delay could be, but he said it "could take months."

He said the director of the city Department of Budget and Fiscal Services will rule on the protest. That decision, Brennan said, could then be appealed to the administrative hearings office of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

"I know that once things go to the administrative hearings office, that that can take some time," Brennan said. "When protests are filed, things get very much delayed."

Brennan emphasized that a contract had not been awarded, and that checking the qualifications of each company is part of the normal bid process.

"The determination of whether Rolloffs is qualified to do the work was under review anyway, as part of the normal course of reviewing bids, to see if in fact the entity that bid can carry out what it says it can do," Brennan said.

The protest is the latest setback in the city's effort to get the recycling project moving.

In November 2004, the United Public Workers union filed a lawsuit to stop the program, which at the time was set to begin that month. The union argued that the city could not implement the program without negotiating with the union.

Last April, the city canceled a contract it awarded to Island Recycling to conduct the curbside program. City officials questioned whether the company could meet deadlines and obligations of the contract.

The city began a recycling pilot program in Mililani in November 2003 but suspended it in August 2004 after the state Labor Relations Board ruled that the city improperly continued the project after an agreement with UPW expired.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8025.