Joint Procurement Funded Support

Eligible applicants

Funded support is available to the following eligible organisations:

• all NSW councils*
• Regional Organisations of Councils (ROCs)
• Regional Waste Groups
• Joint Organisations (JOs)
• Voluntary Regional Waste Groups

* NSW councils remain eligible if they partner with councils outside of NSW.

Eligible projects

To be eligible for funded support applications must:

be exploring the joint procurement of domestic waste management services (Stream 1)

AND/OR

be jointly procuring one or a combination of the following (Stream 2):

1. New domestic waste management facility or facilities including:

• Transfer station, disposal, processing, reprocessing and/or remanufacturing facility

2.  Domestic waste management services including:

• Processing, treatment or disposal of residual waste
• Processing, reprocessing and/or remanufacturing of recyclables and/or organics  
• Processing, reprocessing, remanufacturing, reuse and/or disposal of bulky waste 

3. Domestic waste collection including

• Collection/haulage of residual waste, recycling, organics and/or bulky waste.

What can be funded

Funded Support has been designed to be flexible and adaptable to be able to respond to the wide variety of activities required to jointly procure waste management services. NSW councils and regional waste groups are able to apply for funding through 2 streams to support waste management service procurement.

Stream 1 - Plan up to $250,000	Stream 2 - Source up to $500,000
To support council/s* exploring joint procurement of waste management service/s	To support groups (two or more) of councils undertaking joint procurement of waste management service/s
Funding will be provided for activities to assess the viability of the joint procurement of waste management service/s.   These include but are not limited to: exploring partnership opportunities with councils analysis and alignment of procurement objectives market analysis and technological scans collation and analysis of data development of a business case or feasibility study commercial advice identifying suitable land assessment of procurement options	Funding will be provided to support groups of councils who have committed** to undertaking joint procurement of waste management service/s.   This may include but is not limited to: supporting the ACCC approval process market sounding or Expressions of Interest project management support probity advice governance advice legal advice the development of tender documents tender evaluation and negotiation

* Single councils or groups of councils may apply for Stream 1 (groups of councils may apply without a formal commitment from partner councils) 

** Commitment to a joint procurement may be via a memorandum of understanding (MOU), council minutes or letter etc.

Note

• Applicants may apply for both Stream 1 and Stream 2 at any time.
• Applicants  can apply for funding for more than one project.
• A project is defined as exploring and/or undertaking the procurement of domestic waste management services to achieve a specific outcome.

What cannot be funded

The program cannot be used to fund the following:

1. project costs already incurred prior to the date of signing the funding deed
2. projects that have received funding from Federal or any State Government agencies for the procurement of waste services
3. procurement of equipment or small infrastructure including bins and caddies and education
4. any costs associated with current waste management services (including contract management cost).

Funded Support will be undertaken via a demand driven (first in first assessed) method of grant assessment. Applications will undergo an eligibility assessment before being reviewed by an independent Technical Review Committee (TRC) using the criteria set out below. In addition to the criteria listed, the assessment process will consider any risks and overall value for money for the proposed use of the grant, as well as the Joint Procurement Fund Support Objectives.
Applications recommended for support are at the discretion of the TRC. The EPA Joint Procurement Team is available to help applicants with their application. Please email us on joint.procurement@epa.nsw.gov.au.

Assessment criteria

Criteria	Description	Stream
		1	2
Eligibility	Project meets the Funded Support eligibility criteria	X	X
Objectives	Alignment with the Funded Support objectives	X	X
	Demonstrates clear joint procurement objectives across council partners (see notes below on joint procurement objectives)		X
Project planning	High level project plan	X	X
	How the project addresses a knowledge gap or assesses the viability of a joint procurement activity.	X
	Demonstrate sound project management		X
Collaboration and knowledge sharing	Demonstrate working with other councils		X
	Opportunities for knowledge sharing	X	X

Collaboration and knowledge sharing

Through the Funded Support, the NSW EPA are seeking to foster strong partnerships between councils and with the EPA. To help drive this outcome, successful applicants will be encouraged to demonstrate collaboration and opportunities to share learnings with the EPA and more widely with other councils. 

Types of collaboration and knowledge sharing opportunities may include:

• the EPA being included in project meetings to help build capacity and understanding of the waste service needs to help inform policy
• non-confidential outputs being shared with council stakeholders and/or converted into guidance material such as templates, case studies or fact sheets.
• opportunities to share project learnings at conferences and events.

Joint procurement objectives

For joint procurement to be successful, all participating councils should have a common vision and objectives.  To help drive this alignment joint procurement objectives may include:

• value for money
• improved environmental outcomes
• service harmonisation
• meets needs of the region
• economy of scale
• optimising transport/collection routes.

Successful applicants

We aim to notify successful applicants within 6 weeks of receiving an application. 

Successful applicants for both funding streams will be required to:

• sign and return a Funding Deed confirming commitment to comply with the conditions of funding
• sign the Funding Deed within four weeks of receipt
• attend an inception meeting with the EPA.

Activity reporting and payment schedules are to be completed as specified in individual funding agreements.  

Table below is indicative of what these requirements may be for stream 1 & 2.

Milestone	Project completion	Expected information	Stream
			1	2
1	0%	Signed project plan and/or funding deed returned to the EPA	X	X
2	50%	*Mid project activity progress report	X	X
3	100%	Final activity report	X	X
		Copy of all funded outputs (where possible)	X	X

*Stream 1 projects may require a mid project activity report (depending on complexity of the project) in addition to the Final activity report. 

Organisation and funding amount	Project
Stream 1:
NetWaste   $222,783.00 (Excl.GST)	NetWaste’s waste services procurement planning assistance project NetWaste is undertaking investigative work to explore the options of joint procurement of kerbside collection and processing services across six participating councils (Orange City Council, Bathurst Regional Council, Blaney Shire Council, Canonne Council, Parkes Shire Council and Forbes Shire Council)
Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) $240,772 (Excl.GST)	Explore alternative commercial models of waste service procurement for local government. WSROC is seeking to investigate the economic systems and market conditions influencing traditional and alternative waste service procurement, and investigate alternative commercial delivery options that may be appropriate for the service outcomes sought by councils.
Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC) $119,400 (Excl.GST)	Pre procurement analysis for collective sourcing of FOGO and FO services. SSROC is seeking to conduct pre procurement analysis to explore the procurement options to deliver a robust FOGO service for the region.
Stream 2:
Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC) $178,751 (Excl.GST)	Comingled Recycling Sustainability Solutions (CRESS) joint procurement SSROC is seeking to procure kerbside comingled recycling processing services through a joint procurement.
Shellharbour City Council $144,370 (Excl.GST)	Shellharbour & Wollongong Domestic Waste Collection Services Procurement Shellharbour City Council and Wollongong City Council are seeking to procure their Domestic Waste Collection Services through a joint procurement across the two local government areas.