Judge Says San Francisco Supervisors Overstepped in Giving Contract to Norcal

Date: December 27, 2007

Source: News Room

A San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled that the city's Board of Supervisors overstepped its authority when it rejected a multiyear sludge disposal contract with S&S Trucking and instead awarded it to hometown favorite Norcal Waste Systems. Norcal has held a virtual monopoly on the city's residential and commercial waste business which is valued to be nearly $200 million per year, since the 1930s. Norcal has also held the contract to haul the city's treated sewage, which had not been put out for competitive bid until this fall. Of the five firms that applied for the business, Norcal came in the highest, or about $3 million more over the 5-year term than the low bidder S&S. The ruling was limited to the narrow question of whether the board violated the city charter which only allows review of contracts over $10 million or that will last 10 years or more. The Contract Administration office argues that variables in the contract could have pushed the cost over that threshold.

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