The Board of Supervisors approved a $119,375 contract with an engineering services company to assist the Riverside County Department of Waste Resources with a large-scale expansion project at the Badlands Landfill that will require state and federal permits. In a 5-0 vote without comment, the board authorized DWR General Manager Hans Kernkamp to secure the agreement with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania- based Michael Baker International Inc., which will be in effect between fiscal years 2022-23 and 2026-27.
It was awarded as a sole-source contract without seeking competitive bids, which the DWR justified in documents by referencing the company’s unique “expertise and technical abilities navigating a complicated permitting structure at the state and federal levels.” “The Department of Waste Resources is under significant time constraints and needs to have these permits in hand as soon as possible to seamlessly transition into our next phase of development at the Badlands,” according to an agency statement.
The board in April signed off on plans for a multi-year expansion at the 1,168-acre dump site northeast of Moreno Valley. “The project will provide long-term countywide and regional waste disposal capacity by adding roughly 40 years of additional capacity, as well as developing enhanced organics processing operations and continued household hazards waste and other recycling services,” the DWR stated.