Steps following the award

What happens after the award?

We inform the winning companies, Local Entities and/or Sorting Plants.

The winning companies will receive, together with the communication of the award, the standard bank guarantee for signing, and they will subsequently receive the contract signed electronically.

Guarantee

The winning company will provide Ecoembes an economic guarantee, in the form of a bank guarantee (or another equivalent bank guarantee), a guarantee deposit or a credit and surety insurance policy, for the fulfillment of its obligations pursuant to the Contracts that are published on the Ecoembes website.

The bank guarantee delivered by the winning company to Ecoembes must be issued in Spain, meaning the bank must operate as such in Spain.

In the case of a security deposit, the amount will be delivered to Ecoembes as a guarantee of the payments resulting from the contracts.

The nature of these deposits will exclusively be to provide a guarantee if the winning company fails to satisfy its payment obligations to Ecoembes, as reflected in the Contracts. They may not be considered in any case as an advance payment for the delivery of goods or provision of future services.

Ecoembes will not be able to claim or access the amounts deposited as collateral, unless the winning company is in breach of its payment obligations. In any other case, ECOEMBES must fully refund them upon completion of the payments associated with the Contracts.

ECOEMBES will reduce the amount of the bank guarantees, credit and surety insurance or deposits that recyclers must provide as a guarantee of compliance with their obligations pursuant to the contracts they sign with ECOEMBES. Specifically, recyclers may choose between: (i) issuing a bank guarantee or deposit equivalent to 100% of the turnover expected from the corresponding contract; (ii) issuing a bank guarantee or deposit equivalent to 90% of the turnover expected from the corresponding contract; (iii) purchasing credit and surety insurance from an insurance company registered with the General Directorate of Insurance for 100% of the turnover expected from the corresponding contract; or (iv) purchasing credit and surety insurance from an insurance company registered with the General Directorate of Insurance for 90% of the turnover expected from the corresponding contract. In cases where the guarantee/deposit or the credit and surety insurance covers 90%, the recycler must first have been positively evaluated by an independent third-party credit insurance company with a valuation rating higher than BBB+, as per the main risk rating agencies on the market (i.e., A.M Best, Moody's, EthiFinance Ratings and Standard & Poor's). The financial  solvency assessment indicated will be valid for one (1) year.

The amount of the bank guarantee or deposit will be equivalent to three months of the turnover volume expected from the contract, unless the contract duration is less than 3 months. In this case, the amount will be determined considering the full duration of the contract.

For contracts lasting more than three months, the estimated turnover of the contract (taking as a baseline the price bid and the kilograms/award) will be divided by the number of months of the contract and multiplied by three.

No bank guarantee will be required when the calculated amount is less than €500. In any case, the validity of the guarantee shall be four additional months from the contract termination date.

The bank guarantee or deposit must be received by Ecoembes no later than 2 days before the start date of the contract. If an award is issued after the termination of a contract or cancellation of an award, the period for receiving the guarantee or deposit shall be 20 calendar days from the award notification date. If it is not received within these periods, the award will be cancelled, as indicated in the call for tenders document.

If there is evidence of significant deviations from the expected tonnes and/or in the price of an award (due to revisions), Ecoembes may revise the amount of the bank guarantee or deposit and specify a new amount. This new amount will be communicated to the winning company so that it can issue a new bank guarantee or deposit.

A register is available - and updated on a monthly basis - containing all the recyclers that have bank guarantees, deposits and/or credit and surety insurance older than twelve months, which can be accessed by clicking here (spanish version).

Modification/Cancellation/Withdrawal of bid

 

The bids submitted may not be modified or withdrawn either in the Initial Period or in the Second Period.

However, if a Bidder requests to Ecoembes to cancel or withdraw the bid it submitted, after the end of the Second Period, it will be cancelled.

If the cancellation or withdrawal request is made by the Bidding Company to which the Final Award is granted, but before the Award Certificate is issued:

  • The Final Award will be made at the next best price.
  • The penalty indicated in the penalty table for each award declined will be applied as compensation.

If a winning company declines an award after the publication of the Award Certificate (but before entering into the corresponding contract), or is unable to secure the appropriate financial guarantee (bank guarantee or deposit), as specified in the Rules of the Call, in keeping with the established procedure:

  • A new call for tenders will be issued.
  • The economic penalty specified in the penalty table will be applied.

In any of these cases, no bids from said company will be accepted, either for material from light packaging, or for material from residual waste, until the penalty for the material declined is paid. This measure shall not apply to calls for tenders for other materials for which said company may apply.
 

Penalty

 

For declining or cancelling an award

 

If a winning company declines an award once it is notified, or is unable to secure the appropriate economic guarantee (bank guarantee or deposit), in keeping with the established procedure, a new call for tenders will be issued.

In any case, a penalty in the form of compensation will be applied. The following table shows the compensation stipulated for each award that is declined.

These amounts may be reviewed before each call for tenders and will be specified in each call for tenders document.

No bids from said company will be accepted, either for material from light packaging, or for material from residual waste, until it pays the penalty for the material declined. This measure will also apply to the approved company if the bidding company is a trader. This measure shall not apply to calls for tenders for other materials for which said company may apply.

For terminating a contract

The penalty established in each call for tenders document will be applied as compensation, both whether the winning company requests to rescind a contract, or if a contract is terminated, due to any of the circumstances referred to in sections a, b, c, d, e, f and g of Clause 8 of the standard contracts.

No bids from said company will be accepted, either for material from light packaging, or for material from residual waste, until it pays the penalty for the material declined. This measure will also apply to the approved company if the winning company is a trader. This measure shall not apply to calls for tenders for other materials for which said company may apply.

Penalty Regime for Infringement in Identification Documents

The winning company must sign an identification document that accompanies each shipment. To this end, the Ecoembes award contracts include in Clause Three, Section 3.2, the obligations of recyclers/recovery operators in relation to the completion of said identification documents.

If any infringement is detected due to the non-formalization of the identification document, or to its inadequate completion by the winning companies, the following penalty regime has been established:

  • 1st occurrence: Notification of the incident detected.
  • 2nd occurrence: Financial penalty (10,000 euros). Rejection of bids for the material involved in the violation, whether light packaging or SUW, until the penalty is paid.
  • 3rd occurrence: Financial penalty (20,000 euros). Rejection of bids in the next call for the material involved in the violation, whether light packaging or SUW. For following calls, rejection of bids for the material involved in the violation, whether light packaging or SUW, until the penalty is paid.
  • 4th occurrence: Termination of the contract(s) affected (Plant/Area).
  • 5th occurrence: Withdrawal of the approval for the affected material for 6 months, and termination of all affected contracts.

Incidents will be cumulative for each material, regardless of the contract they affect.

Register of penalties

The updated register containing the list of penalties in force older than 12 months is available by clicking here (spanish version).