Private service providers often take on responsibility for waste disposal in local communities. Cities and local authorities which opt for this strategy, however, have to first of all adhere to public procurement procedures for such services before they commission the service provider.
The private waste management sector is currently recovering from the bad reputation it collected in past years. The contracts concluded with local authorities have not always led to public-sector clients getting the best waste disposal service for the lowest price. The considerable improvement which has taken place is partly due to the fact that the local authorities now have a transparent procurement procedure and the organisation of different disposal services to be subject to separate contracts (organic, paper/cardboard/plastic, domestic refuse, etc.) which opens up the market to medium-sized companies has created a competitive environment where the »top dogs« can only continue to be successful when they make competitive offers in bidding contests with new market entrants and cannot rely on automatically getting the next contract.
One of these new market entrants is the company May Biopower GmbH from Jülich, which is located between the triangle of cities formed by Cologne, Aachen, and Düsseldorf. In addition to the main area of economic activity of May Biopower GmbH which is the manufacture and distribution of wood fuel, the company also develops successful concepts for waste disposal for local authorities. In a tender procedure with its hometown of Jülich, May Biopower was recently successful and won the tender against the previous long-standing waste disposal company.
In the process, the Cologne office of Leinemann Partner provided active support because the previous service provider did not wish to accept the result of the tender procedure and lodged an appeal with the procurement chamber. When the procurement decision was confirmed in favour of May Biopower, the complainant lodged an appeal in the second instance at the public procurement division of Düsseldorf Higher Court. May Biopower was also successful with Leinemann Partner in the second court and will now secure a sustainable and environmentally-friendly disposal system for the next eight years in the city of Jülich.
When the city of Pulheim, a municipality with 50,000 inhabitants north of Cologne also issued an invitation to tender for their waste disposal, the company suddenly found itself in a déjà vu situation. May Biopower was once again awarded the tender. Then once again the previous service provider, which was the same company as in Jülich, contested the award of the tender at the procurement chamber. May Biopower then prevailed together with Leinemann Partner again before the procurement chamber. True to the motto of »Never Change a Winning Team« the two will together contest the appeal before the Düsseldorf Higher Court.
Leinemann Partner is proud to have successful provided legal support for a young company which still has to make a name for itself in its field where participation in public tenders is not straightforward and where if necessary companies have to protect their interests against powerful competitors. This is how procurement law is instrumental in supporting competition.
