As well as the obligation to pay for the services the Authority will also have some form of obligation to deliver or make Contract Waste available for the Contractor to collect. This obligation is absolutely critical for the Contractor as the flow of waste (and hence income) from the Authority is the basis on which the Contractor and its funders decide to invest in the project. A breach of this obligation will lead to an Authority Default and potentially termination of the Contract. It is therefore important that the Contract Manager and his/her team have a detailed understanding of the precise wording of this obligation in the Contract. For example if the Contract commits the Authority to provide a particular waste stream exclusively to the Contractor the Contract Management Team must be aware of this.
In order to widen the understanding of the Authority's obligation in relation to Contract Waste the exact wording in relation to this obligation and the detailed implications should be set out prominently in the Contract Management Manual. The Manual should also highlight the need to plan for termination of existing Contracts with landfill operators or providers of interim treatment services (e.g. to ensure that sufficient notice of termination is given, there is flexibility to divert commissioning tonnages and that guaranteed minimum tonnage obligations with the existing Contractors are set at a suitable level).
If the Authority is the WDA in a two tier area and/or in partnership with other WDAs there will be a need to ensure that the legal obligation to deliver the Contract Waste is passed onto the authority responsible for physically delivering the waste to the Contractor. This will usually be done by way of an Inter-Authority Agreement (IAA).31 The Contract Management Manual should highlight the relevant sections of the IAA and the management processes set out in the Contract Management Manual should cover the interface with the other parties to the IAA.
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31 It is also possible this may be achieved by the WDA using a direction under section 48 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.