Quezon City accepted the project as an unsolicited proposal, and awarded the original proponent status to a consortium of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), Covanta Energy, LLC, and Macquarie Group Limited on March 17 last year, followed by the signing of a Joint Certification of Successful Negotiation on Oct. 12 this year. The original proponent has the right to match the lowest complying bid submitted by challengers in a Swiss challenge. The main bid parameter will be based on the lowest tipping fee — or the fee charged by the operator accepting the solid waste — inclusive of value-added tax (VAT) and other applicable taxes.