Find a TenderAwardedContract award notice
Published 4 Apr 2025, 13:13 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Provision of Dry Mixed Recycling Services and Haulage

Official notice

Authority: South Oxfordshire District Council (Local council)·On behalf of: Vale of White Horse District Council

ServicesOpen procedureAbove thresholdSME suitable
Published estimate£32,000,000≈ £4.0m / year · £38,400,000 inc. VAT · 1 value update
Submissions closed 25 Nov 2025awarded 27 Mar 2026
Award (standstill) to Pearce Recycling Company Limited
Contract term 8 yrsends 28 Jun 2034 · up to 29 Jun 2042 with extensions · starts 29 Jun 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

South Oxfordshire District Council and Vale of White Horse District Council (the Councils) as second tier Waste Collection Authorities operate a shared household waste and recycling collection service. This is currently contracted out to a waste collection company whose material sorting arm accepts the Dry Mixed Recycling (DMR) material at its Material Recovery Facility (MRF). The DMR is fully co-mingled in line with the Governments Core Materials Set. That means that all recycling other than food and garden waste are collected within the same receptacle from households. The current contractual arrangements for this service is due to expire on 28 June 2026. This procurement concerns the proposed award of a new contract to a suitable Supplier that is intended to replace/succeed the existing arrangements which is anticipated to commence from Monday 29 June 2026.

This proposed contract is for the transport of the Councils' DMR from the Waste Transfer Station to a MRF for separation and onward sale to the markets for re-processing.

Under the proposed contract the Councils require that the DMR be collected from the Waste Transfer Station. The Councils will not be supplying vehicles for this purpose and it will be the responsibility of the successful Supplier to secure suitable vehicles for the provision of this service.

The Waste Transfer Station is operated by FCC Recycling (UK) Limited, who the Councils hold a contract with for receiving DMR and making it available to Hauliers.

The Waste Transfer Station is located at Appleford Sidings, OX14 4PW.

Once the DMR has been picked up from the Waste Transfer Station and transported to a MRF the successful Supplier will be responsible for ensuring that all the recyclable materials received at the MRF or MRFs will then be separated out into the key material types and sold onto re-processing markets.

Under this contract the successful Supplier will be required to separate out the maximum amount of DMR received and pass this on to re-processors, minimising the amount of recyclate sent for disposal.

A split from the sale of materials, as described within the Pricing Schedule, will be passed on by the Supplier to the Councils. It will track the LetsRecycle pricing index.

The Councils are in the top 5 in the country for recycling performance and have been so for over a decade. The recyclate in scope for this contract is, in comparison to many other local authorities, low in contaminants. Total annual tonnages are circa 27,000.

  • Not divided into lots: Haulage makes up a very minor element of the overall DMR contract requirements. Dividing into lots would make them not economically viable.
  • The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 28 Jan 2041, 23:59 GMT.

CPV: Construction works for recycling station · Recycling equipment · Refuse recycling services · Refuse-collection vehicles · Refuse-compaction vehicles · Utility vehicles

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1AwardedRenewal 8 yrsSMEPublished value£32,000,000
Contract period: 29 Jun 2026 – 28 Jun 2034 (8 yrs) · up to 29 Jun 2042 with extensionsValue: £32,000,000 exc. VAT · £38,400,000 inc. VAT
Delivery: South EastEligibility: SME eligible
Extensions: The contract is for an initial term of 8 years (with a break clause at year 4). There is also an option to extend the Expiry Date by a period or periods of up to eight (8) years
Pre-qualification & selection criteria (PQQ)2
  • Economic & financial standing

    The conditions of participation in relation to legal and financial capacity are set out in the PSQ documents made available with this Tender Notice which can be accessed via the Portal.

  • Technical & professional ability

    The conditions of participation in relation to technical ability are set out in the ITT Document which can be accessed via the Portal.

    Suppliers wishing to participate in this procurement must submit a completed PSQ and Tender response through the Portal by 25 November 2025 1pm.

What it takes to win
i

How this buyer will score bids.

The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add more
How bids were scored
Quality: 40%Price: 60%
Published sub-criteria (2)
  • Quality: 40%
  • Cost: 60%
Published award criteria (2)
  • Quality: Material recovery facility - 4% Collecting soft plastics - 2% Future changes in materials - 2% Contingency - 3% Climate - 2% Health and Safety 1 - 3% Health and Safety 2 - 3% Social Value - 3% Method Statement 1: Effective scheduling, communication and minimising disruption - 5% Method Statement 2: Transportation of DMR and route planning - 3% Method Statement 3: Processing of DMR to separate out target materials - 5% Method Statement 4: Sale of target materials to the reprocessing market - 5%
  • Cost: The monthly payment shall be calculated in accordance with the following formula: Total per tonne haulage cost plus the total per tonne Gate Fee plus the per tonne disposal of the Reject Stream minus the percentage agreed from bid for material sales minus performance deductions for KPI failures.
Conditions of participation2
  • Economic & financial standing

    The conditions of participation in relation to legal and financial capacity are set out in the PSQ documents made available with this Tender Notice which can be accessed via the Portal.

  • Technical & professional ability

    The conditions of participation in relation to technical ability are set out in the ITT Document which can be accessed via the Portal.

    Suppliers wishing to participate in this procurement must submit a completed PSQ and Tender response through the Portal by 25 November 2025 1pm.

What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 60 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 6 points. This one is won on the number: sharpen the price before polishing the prose.

Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Procedure method
Open procedure
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Awarded
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement
Yes · next expected 28 Jan 2041
First published
4 Apr 2025, 13:13 BST
Last source update
30 Mar 2026, 12:11 BST
Award evaluation window
Submission end – 20 Feb 2026
Authority reference
C-000102
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-066379
Latest notice
Contract award notice (UK6)
Classification (CPV)
Construction works for recycling stationRecycling equipmentRefuse recycling servicesRefuse-collection vehiclesRefuse-compaction vehiclesUtility vehicles
Delivery area
South East (UKJ14)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-04fd53 Find a Tender
Review and risk notes
Risks

As Suppliers will be aware, there a number of changes/schemes that are in consultation and/or to be introduced in the waste sector in the near future. However, the impact of such matters is unknown.

The Councils consider that the following are known risks which, if they were to materialise, could jeopardise the satisfactory performance of the contract for the Councils but that, due to their nature, they cannot be addressed in the contract as awarded. As such, the occurrence of all or any of these risks may necessitate a subsequent modification to the contract under paragraph 5 of Schedule 8 to the Procurement Act 2023.

  1. The implementation of the Simpler Recycling in England policy, Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) and introduction of a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).
  2. The requirement under the 1990 Environment Act and other related provisions to carry out a Technical, Economic, Environmental, Practicable (TEEP) assessment. The Councils anticipate undertaking another TEEP assessment during the lifetime of the contract. The extent and impact changes required following the TEEP Assessment will not be known at the commencement of the contract but it is anticipated that further information in relation to the impact of this known risk will be available during the lifetime of the contract.
  3. During the lifetime of the contract changes to LetsRecycle market-led indexes may be made and the contract may need to be varied to reflect these changes.
  4. An infrastructure collapse could occur in a domestic market/solution which may mean that trading material to a destination may be restricted or stopped entirely.
  5. There may be an overseas market failure, which the supplier will have no control over and this may mean that the preferred export destination is restricted or cannot be utilised impacting on the ability for products to be sold.
  6. Finally, the Councils are subject to the English Devolution White Paper which will lead to local government re-organisation potentially during the term of this contract. This has now moved on to proposals in the  English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. This risk is defined as a known unknown risk as we do not yet understand the implications of that potential re-organisation for the contract.

Please see Schedule 4 to the Contract for further information

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: Proactis / ProContract · Who buys & how to bid on ProContract
Electronic submission allowedLanguage: EN
Submission deadline
25 Nov 2025, 13:00 GMT
Clarification deadline
30 Oct 2025, 17:00 GMT
Submission channel
Official e-sourcing portal
Electronic submission
Allowed
Accepted languages
en
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

Submissions must be by way of completion and submission of the a completed PSQ response and Tender response electronically via the Proactis portal which can be accessed here: sebp.due-north.com ↗. The PSQ and Tender submission must be in accordance with the requirements set out in the ITT documents) by the Tender submission deadline (referred to above). The Councils reserve the right not to accept PSQ responses and/or Tenders that are received after the deadline. Suppliers are encouraged to submit their submissions well in advance of the stated date and time in order to avoid issues such as technical difficulties with the electronic system that may be due to the high volumes of traffic attempting to submit applications on the same date at the same time.

Timeline

4 Apr 2025 → 29 Jun 2026 · 11 dates
  1. Planning notice published
    4 Apr 2025, 13:13 BST
  2. Market engagement
    17 Apr 2025, 23:59 BST

    The Authorities have published pre-market engagement questions with a response deadline of 5pm 17th April 2025.

    There will not be an extension beyond that time, nor will any clarifications be issued or dialogue entered into.

    The link to the opportunity to take part in the preliminary market engagement is as follows

    procontract.due-north.com/Procurer/Advert/View ↗

  3. Next notice expected
    15 May 2025, 23:59 BST
  4. Tender notice published376 days ago
    17 Oct 2025, 14:56 BST
  5. Clarification questions by363 days ago
    30 Oct 2025, 17:00 GMT
  6. Submission deadline337 days ago
    25 Nov 2025, 13:00 GMT
  7. Award decision expected by250 days ago
    20 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
  8. Assessment summaries sent213 days ago
    30 Mar 2026, 00:00 BST
  9. Latest notice published212 days ago
    30 Mar 2026, 12:11 BST
  10. Standstill ends201 days ago
    10 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
  11. Contract starts122 days ago
    29 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

10 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 4 Apr 2025
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    4 Apr 2025, 13:13 BST
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    4 Apr 2025, 13:35 BST
    UK2
  3. Tender notice published
    17 Oct 2025, 14:56 BST
    UK4
  4. Published value published: £32,000,000
    17 Oct 2025, 14:56 BST
  5. Status changed to active
    17 Oct 2025, 14:56 BST
  6. Procurement method changed
    17 Oct 2025, 14:56 BST
  7. Deadline published: 25 Nov 2025, 13:00 GMT
    17 Oct 2025, 14:56 BST
  8. Contract award notice published
    30 Mar 2026, 12:11 BST
    UK6
  9. Status changed to complete
    30 Mar 2026, 12:11 BST
  10. Contract signature expected
    13 Apr 2026, 23:59 BST
    scheduled
Published amendments (1)

The link to the opportunity on ProContract has been updated

Routine re-releases (4)
  • 2025-04: 1 release · 4 Apr 2025

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1
Awarded value £1,679,7261 award exc. VAT
Bids received 42 from SMEs
Awarded toValueDateStatus
Pearce Recycling Company LimitedSME29 Jun 2026 – 28 Jun 2034 · up to 29 Jun 2042Extensions: There is a break clause at year 4 as provided for in Clause 37a of the Contract. The contract extension may be used to tie this contract with the main Waste collection and Street Cleansing contract£1,679,72627 Mar 2026standstill to 10 Apr 2026Standstill

Bid statistics published by the authority

BidsSMEVCSEValid bid range
4final-stage tenders20—

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

2 public bodies on the notice

South Oxfordshire District Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PRWZ-2743-VQTG Abbey House, Abbey Close, Abingdon, South East, OX14 3JEContact email

Other public bodies

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice
  • Timberpak Pearce LtdAwarded supplierGB-COH: 01105882GB-PPON: PXGV-9765-TRCY Pearce House, St Albans, East of England, AL4 0JYContact email

Official documents & specifications (4)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure