In the wake of the recent controversy over the city of Oakland offering a 10-year contract to a rival company, Houston-based Waste 
Management has decided to take their grievances to court.
Waste Management, the nations largest trash and recycling hauler, claims that the Oakland City Council hindered the bidding process in order to stack the odds in favor of the West Oakland-based California Waste Solutions (CWS). Citing the fact that CWS has never held a garbage hauling contract, submitted proposals past the agreed-upon due date, and failed to comply with Oakland’s contracting rules, Waste Management feels that the only reason Oakland awarded the valuable contract to CWS was due to “personal and political connections”.
Waste Management also adds that after they reviewed and rejected their proposal in May, City Council decided to re-open the bidding process and allow CWS to look at Waste Managements proposal in order to alter and re-submit a new proposal of their own (originally, CWS only wanted part of the contract, but was able to re-submit for the entire contract).
Not shockingly, the City Council is claiming no wrongdoing, as they feel they picked awarded the contract to the company that could provide the residents of Oakland the best value. Waste Managements proposal estimated that the city would have to endure no less then a 50 percent fee hike. City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan defended the choice saying, “It is completely normal to pick the one with the lowest price. We picked the one with the lowest price for the public. We saved the public $200 million.”
Leave A Comment