National Serv-All officials said they were just trying to be competitive.
A rival called their bid for New Haven trash collection “predatory,” insisting it was intended to drive out competition and, ultimately, drive up Serv-All's prices.
Either way, it appears Fort Wayne-based Serv-All will provide 5,500 customers here with trash collection service for the next three years - in the process denying startup firm Earth First the opportunity to prove it can handle a job as big as New Haven's.
Or, presumably, Fort Wayne's.
“Unfortunately, this follows a pattern. Now we're dealing with predatory prices. This is disturbing,” Earth First President Gregg Walbridge said Tuesday just minutes after Board of Works members opened bids for a contract now held by Waste Management. It's unlikely Waste Management will keep the job, however: Its base bid of $11.70 per household per month was the highest of the four received.
Serv-All officials declined to comment.
The lowest - by far - came from Serv-All, with a base 2010 bid of $7.49. Earth First, which recently submitted the lowest proposal for the Fort Wayne contract but lost the job when the city decided to extend Serv-All's even-lower current contract for one year, was second at $9.24, with Veolia Environmental Services coming in third at $9.95.
Mayor Terry McDonald said board members would review the bids and expect to award a contract Nov. 17.
“I'm pleased with the bids. This shows competition works,” McDonald said. New Haven is currently paying Waste Management $11.71 per household per month.
But the fact that Serv-All significantly beat that price and the bids of three other companies indicates profit may not be its highest priority, Walbridge said, noting that the ability to drive would-be competitors from the market could increase Serv-All's ability to increase prices later. “We were comfortable with our numbers. We didn't expect (Serv-All) to come in that low. We just saved New Haven a lot of money,” he said.
Fort Wayne officials last month extended Serv-All's current contract through 2010, in part because some questioned Earth First's ability to handle such a large job.
The Fort Wayne Community Schools board also voted to extend the district's contract with Serv-All, locking in current rates for three years despite Walbridge's contention that Earth First's bid would have saved the schools money.
Since then, Earth First and other firms have continued to compete for several contracts.
The DeKalb County town of Butler on Monday awarded a one-year contract to Serv-All, which bid $10.75 per household per month in the first year, compared with Earth First, the only other bidder, at $10.89.
And Tuesday, also in DeKalb County, the city of Auburn opened proposals from Earth First, Waste Management and Serv-All. Officials said details of the proposals won't be released until interviews are conducted with representatives of companies competing to serve the city's 5,200 households. The Board of Works could award a contract Nov. 12.
Bob Young, Serv-All's director of municipal services, said Auburn's current trash-only cost is $6.86 per household per month. In Waterloo, just north of Auburn, the company is charging $7.50.
