Maine Will Rewrite Its Stewardship Organization RFP

Maine DEP has said what it will do after its Stewardship Organization solicitation drew nothing. RFP-202605094 was issued June 15, 2026, closed August 18 with zero proposals, and CAA declined to bid. On September 11, 2026 DEP posted a newsletter titled “Maine DEP to Revise Request for Proposals for Stewardship Organization”.

DEP’s own program page now places the program at step four of nine, “Contracting with a SO”, and says the Department “is currently reassessing the anticipated schedule”, which will be posted once complete. No reissue date has been given and there is no open solicitation.

What this means for you: this is the first forward-looking statement Maine has made since the RFP failed, and it is an intention rather than a date. Every downstream Maine obligation still hangs off a contract that does not exist. Producer registration runs 90 days from the moment an SO makes a registration mechanism available, start-up fees follow registration, and neither clock can start until an SO is under contract. Maine’s recurring annual calendar in rule is unchanged, so if an SO is seated the May 31 reporting and September 1 payment dates are the ones to plan against. Source: Maine DEP, Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging, recent newsletters (September 11, 2026).