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MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District picked Jacobs Solutions as the next private operator of its wastewater treatment plants, a decision announced Monday that comes as a lawsuit involving the current operator continues to play out.
MMSD contract
The backstory:
MMSD's commission began the process of selecting a private operator for its next 10-year contract, worth an estimated $700 million, in 2024. Two companies submitted proposals by this January's deadline: Jacobs Solutions and Veolia North America, which has operated the district's wastewater treatment plants since 2008.
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The decision to choose Jacobs over Veolia came after an ad hoc committee scored Jacobs' bid higher in three of four categories. The ad hoc committee did not include any current MMSD leadership, but it did include five former MMSD commissioners with more than five collective decades of commission experience.
The commission said it considered the ad hoc committee's recommendation and sought to validate the proposals' pricing, subcontracting, software and other commitments before deciding on Jacobs Solutions.
By the numbers:
The ad hoc committee weighed price more than any other factor when making its recommendation and noted the Jacobs Solutions bid came in at a $54 million lower cost over the life of the 10-year contract. MMSD said the committee used the following scoring matrix to evaluate the proposals:
- Price: 60% of total score
- Approach: 25% of total score
- Staffing, training, corporate culture, and workforce development: 10% of total score
- Regional partnership: 5% of total score
Overall, the ad hoc committee scored Jacobs' proposal a 96.8 and Veolia's an 84.9 on a 100-point scale. The only area where Veolia North America's bid topped Jacobs Solutions, according to the committee's recommendation, was regional partnership.
When is the contract up?
What's next:
MMSD staff will now negotiate with Jacobs Solutions to finalize a 10-year contract, which will take effect once the district's current contract with Veolia North America expires at the end of February 2028.
MMSD said it will not sign any new contract until a legal challenge from Veolia has been resolved, but the sewerage district said it can still negotiate contract terms and begin various transition items.
Separately from the contract process, MMSD called for an independent, third-party audit of Veolia after whistleblower complaints of intentional mismanagement. The findings of that audit are expected to come in October; as such, MMSD said the audit "played no role in the selection process."
Veolia sues MMSD
Dig deeper:
Veolia filed a federal lawsuit against MMSD on Sept. 11, accusing the district of skewing its process for selecting a company for the next 10-year contract. The lawsuit argues MMSD officials met with Common Ground, a nonprofit group, months before Common Ground launched a campaign that accused MMSD and Veolia of mismanaging facilities. Veolia also accuses the third party overseeing the performance audit of having "undisclosed ties" with Jacobs Solutions.
Veolia accuses MMSD of skewing contract selection process: lawsuit
Veolia sued MMSD, accusing the district of skewing its process for selecting a company to operate wastewater treatment plants for the next contract.
What is MMSD?
The backstory:
MMSD is a regional government agency in charge of treating wastewater and providing flood management services for more than a million people across 29 communities in the Milwaukee area. MMSD's service area covers 423 square miles and six watersheds.
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Official statements
What they're saying:
MMSD Commission Chair Corey Zetts:
"Effectively managing metropolitan Milwaukee’s wastewater infrastructure is a vital service that impacts the everyday lives of residents across our region. We thank everyone who contributed to this process over the past two years and thank our colleagues at Veolia North America for their partnership since 2008. As the Ad Hoc Committee determined, both bidders were qualified. Our responsibility as a Commission was to review objective evaluations, ask pointed questions, and ultimately select the best proposal for the people and communities we serve."
Veolia North America:
"Veolia is disappointed but not surprised at today's vote. As we said in our legal filings, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) had promised an equal playing field and a fair evaluation for any company that submitted a proposal, but their actions showed they gave special preference to Jacobs' proposal while denying Veolia fair consideration. Veolia had warned MMSD that its response to Common Ground's campaign against Veolia threatened the integrity of the procurement process, and that is what happened. We are now asking the U.S. District Court to order MMSD to conduct a new procurement in a fair and equitable manner."
FOX6 News reached out to Jacobs Solutions for comment on Monday's announcement. This story will be updated if and when the company responds.
Editor's note: This story was updated to include a statement from Veolia North America.
The Source: FOX6 News referenced information from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and reached out to Jacobs Solutions and Veolia North America for comment. Additional details are from prior coverage of the district, including Veolia's lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.