The Quaker Valley Council of Governments (QVCOG, or COG) is a nonprofit organization
consisting of 17 local municipalities located along the Ohio River in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Alongside other regions throughout Allegheny County, the COG is dedicated to aiding the local
communities. Working with combined local governance, the COG is governed by a Board of
Delegates, with one voting delegate per member of the community .
This project focuses on the comprehensive review of the existing waste management contract
in order to identify the key factors contributing to rising costs and to develop actionable
recommendations aimed at reducing those costs. The analysis was conducted within the context of
a changing regional market, where increasing contract prices and limited competition—evidenced by
Waste Management (WM) being the sole bidder for the current contract—have created challenges
for maintaining cost efficiency . A central priority of this project was to ensure that any proposed cost-
reduction strategies would not compromise the quality and reliability of waste collection services
expected by residents across the QVCOG municipalities.