Norway – Sewage, refuse, cleaning and environmental services – Transport services, framework agreement

The competition is for three sub-contracts for framework agreements for transport services. The transports involve transporting waste from recycling stations (sub-contract 1), delivery of glass and metal packaging (sub-contract 2) and transporting bulky/large waste (sub-contract 3). Participants in the procurement: Innherred Renovasjon is an intermunicipal sanitation company with its main office in Levanger. We are responsible for the collection and treatment of household waste and sludge in our 9 owner municipalities in Trøndelag: Inderøy, Verdal, Levanger, Frosta, Stjørdal, Meråker, Malvik, Selbu and Tydal. The estimated value per annum and the maximum value for the entire contract period per sub-contract, including any options and the expected price rise are stated in point 1.1.4. The need is uncertain. The volume can vary both up and down and the contract period will depend on, among other things, the contracting authority ́s needs, activities, budgetary situations and other framework factors. See the procurement documents for further information. The contract is subject to cancellation of the competition, i.a. in connection with budgetary coverage and the board ́s approval. The contracting authority has assessed the procurement against the Public Procurement Act § 5h and concluded that there is no requirement for apprentices in this procurement as the contract ́s main element does not include work where it is relevant to use labour with certificates of apprenticeship or craft, cf. the Procurement Act § 5h 2nd section letter c, subsidiary because the need requires specialised competence or for other reasons is not suitable for apprentices, Cf. the Public Procurement Act § 5h 4 paragraph. The following applies for sub-contract 1: The contracting authority has decided to set a minimum requirement from and including other contract years that vehicles used in the contract shall use biogas, hydrogen or electricity as an energy carrier. The requirement is meant to meet the Public Procurement Act §5b, which allows public contracting authorities to use climate and environmental requirements in the requirement specifications, if it is clear that this provides a better climate and environmental effect. The transport ́s direct emissions are obviously the most important part of the contract ́s total environmental impact. For example, a diesel vehicle with emissions of approx. 200 g CO₂/km and an annual driving length of 40,000 km will generate approx. 8 tonnes of CO₂ per annum. Hydrogen and battery electrical vehicles have zero direct emissions in the operational phase, while biogas vehicles in the lifetime perspective provide very low, and in some cases net negative, CO₂-equivalent emissions. The requirement gives a significant and substantiated reduction in total emissions over the contract ́s lifetime. The contracting authority has considered using climate and the environment only as the award criteria. Such a model would, however, only give a relative ranking between the tenders, without ensuring that the delivery is actually low- or zero-emission based. If prices or other criteria are weighted higher, fossil-based solutions can still win the competition. Furthermore, evaluating environmental performance involves methodology challenges connected to documentation, calculation assumptions (e.g. well-to-wheel vs. tank-to-wheel), inspections and verifiability, which can increase the risk of doubt. The minimum requirement reduces this risk by determining a clear and objective level for acceptable environmental performance. The requirement is justifiable, proportional and connected to the delivery. The market can deliver sufficient competition within the stipulated frameworks. The assessments listed above document the environmental, technical and legal considerations that form the basis for choosing requirements, and fulfil the contracting authority ́s justification obligation in accordance with the Public Procurement Act §5b.