All contracts should go through a rigorous local review process. The cost of procurement, administration, and monitoring needs to be included in the cost of the private alternative. Full cost wastewater agencies, whether public or private, should be permitted to compete with private companies for wastewater treatment service contracts when practical. Fairness should be an overriding goal, and it is important to recognize that every competitor has its own set of strengths and weaknesses and that a fair process is one that is honest and transparent. Recognizing that the purchasers of service have the right to decide what they wish to buy and how they will buy them, it is paramount that selection criteria be clearly defined early on and consistently applied once the purchasing process is begun.
Competitive processes have the potential to result in reductions in workforce.
If either a public team or private contractor is chosen, the fate of the present workforce should be carefully considered and addressed in the rules that govern the competitive process. Effort should be made to achieve reductions through attrition, placement in other municipal divisions, buyout arrangements, voluntary early retirement, or via the use of fair severance packages with outplacement services. The full cost of the accommodation should be taken into consideration as part of the evaluation of service options. Savings associated with competitive processes should be reinvested in additional productivity initiatives, infrastructure maintenance and improvement, or passed on to system customers in the form of rate relief. Facilities under both public and private sector management must meet or exceed all applicable laws and regulations.