Four months after the city stopped accepting proposals from companies, officials are still sorting out two bid protests over a proposed contract to ship about 100,000 tons of O'ahu's trash each year to a Washington landfill, according to testimony before the City Council budget committee yesterday.

Hawaiian Waste Systems is the low bidder, but two other companies vying for the contract have submitted protests to the city office of Budget and Fiscal Services, claiming Hawaiian Waste Systems undervalued the project.

The city had hoped to start shipping trash by the end of the year.

"Shipment bids came in June, why are we not shipping yet?" asked City Councilman Todd K. Apo, budget committee chairman, during the meeting yesterday. "This is all part of the solid waste issue. My goal is to get this thing going as soon as possible."

The city Department of Budget and Fiscal Services was set to send a letter requesting more information to the low bidder, Hawaiian Waste Systems, said Mary P. Waterhouse, department director.

The company would have 10 calendar days to respond, after which the department will decide whether to uphold or dismiss the bid protests. The city hopes to have the bid awarded by the end of the year.

Off-Island Transfer, which bid $204.21 per ton to ship the trash, and Simcoe Environmental Services Inc., which said it would charge $184.47 per ton, allege Hawaiian Waste Systems is "undervaluing" the project by bidding $99 a ton to do the work.

Both companies filed separate complaints with the city office of Budget and Fiscal Services; by law, the bid review process cannot be completed until the protests are addressed.

"In general, the types of issues raised in the protests had to do with the bidder and whether the low bid could be accomplished," said Gary Y. Takeuchi, city deputy corporation counsel.

The city earlier projected that shipping trash to the Mainland would cost $70 to $75 per ton, or $7 million to $7.5 million a year. By comparison, it costs less than $30 per ton to dump municipal solid waste into the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill in Leeward O'ahu.

The three-year contract, with an option for two additional years, requires the winning bidder to ship 2,050 tons of trash per week.

The amount that would be shipped is less than 6 percent of the total 1.76 million tons of solid waste O'ahu generates annually, but proponents say it will help extend the life of the island's main landfill and allow time for the expansion of waste-to-energy technology.