The Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme (WIDP) was established to support local authorities to accelerate investment in the large-scale infrastructure required to treat residual waste, without compromising efforts to minimise waste and increase recycling levels.

WIDP works to ensure cost-effective and timely delivery of the major infrastructure required to bridge the shortfall in residual waste treatment capacity needed in order for England to meet its share of the UK’s Landfill Directive diversion targets.

WIDP brings together the resources and roles of Defra, Infrastructure UK and Local Partnerships in support of authorities undertaking waste projects.

WIDP guidance on Contract Management

On 2 March, a consultation exercise was launched outlining guidance on contract management for authorities currently undertaking the procurement of, or already managing, contracts for residual waste treatment.

The consultation will run for 12 weeks, ending 25 May 2012.

• Consulation papers and guidance

How to respond

Responses to the consultation can be submitted in four different ways as set out below (in our order of preference):

• You can submit your response about any section of the guidance    through the website above.
• You can respond by submitting a mark-up of the Guidance through the same website.
• You can send us your response by email to: widp.programmeoffice@defra.gsi.gov.uk
• You can also send us your response by post to: WIDP Programme    Office, Defra, Area 6C Ergon House, Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2AL.

If you choose to respond by email or post, please ensure that responses are clearly marked “Contract Management Guidance consultation responses”. Please explain who you are and whom you represent, and give appropriate contact details. 

The WIDP contract

Following a consultation exercise in 2009, the WIDP Contract has been published.

• The WIDP Contract (PDF 1.2 MB)
• The WIDP Contract Schedule 1 (PDF 550 KB)
• The WIDP Contract Schedule 2 onwards (PDF 1.4 MB)
• Covering letter (PDF 40 KB)
• Table of changes (PDF 250 KB)

Also available are the DeltaViews which show the comparisons between June 2009 and November 2010. If you want to see these documents, please contact us at widp.guidance@defra.gsi.gov.uk

The WIDP Action Plan explains how we will accelerate the building of the infrastructure needed to treat residual waste without compromising our efforts to minimise waste and support increasing recycling levels.

• WIDP Action Plan (PDF 30 KB)

The WIDP programme office team can be contacted on: WIDP.programmeoffice@defra.gsi.gov.uk

WIDP provides local authorities with high quality comprehensive support, including:

• Financial help through Private Finance Initiative (PFI) credits (where appropriate). WIDP oversees the allocation of PFI credits. The deadline for the last proposed funding round has now passed.
• More information on the current PFI projects and the application process
• Dedicated “transactors” give guidance and support to individual Authorities procurement projects – both PFI and non-PFI.
• Generic guidance to help all waste infrastructure projects. 8 modules for the procurement pack: Planning, Options appraisal, Project governance, Prudential borrowing, Output specification, Payment mechanism, Project Agreement and Joint Working.

WIDP also participated in the New Technologies Demonstrator Programme (NTDP) which ended on 31 March 2009. The programme was set up to provide £30 million of assistance to new waste treatment technology demonstration projects. The programme was intended to overcome the real and perceived risks of introducing alternative technologies in England through the provision of accurate and impartial technical, environmental and economic information to key decision makers in local authorities and the waste industry in general. Full details are available at the National Archives.