DRIVING THE INDUSTRY SINCE 1991
“You have to weigh your ability to purchase right, as we do, and to train right to make a substantial financial impact.”
banks have in this low-rate environment to upgrade equipment and create jobs. Te public/private partnerships need to be ex-
panded, not disregarded, as has been the case. Tere is too much of a “mine versus yours” mentality in school operations, and school districts control 100 percent of the market. Sixty-six percent choose to still own and operate their own fleets, and 34 per- cent choose to contract for that service and concen- trate on education. Despite not owning the fleet and having a contracted service, those school districts retain 100-percent control over their transportation. In fact, school boards that contract transportation
have more control than in-house operations. Te mere contract protects them and the power
to pay is the ultimate control. Tose items are more apt to be less controlled in an in-house service with various branches of power at the board, administra- tive and the Transportation Department levels.
STN: Why can providing the lowest bid on
contracts prove challenging down the road? Gallagher: Schools that choose to accept only
the lowest bid have chosen to treat transportation as a commodity. Let’s bid yellow pencils the same as we bid yellow bus services.
Tey tend to hide behind procurement laws that
lay everything in the simplest form. Choosing a contractor for a service like trans-
portation should involve a more in-depth process. What is the reputation of the provider? What type of equipment will be on their contract? What type of training is going on? What innovations and tech- nology are they bringing to the table? Many things should be considered. And the contractors need to be held to the agreements. We have seen some promise new equipment and then not deliver it and then try to renegotiate; that’s wrong. We have seen schools put themselves in a terrible
risk situation because they are required to take the lowest bid. Perhaps ask them if they hired their superintendent or board attorney by soliciting the lowest-paid person. We have been hired by many districts recently who have tried our competitors’ low-bid service, and 80 percent of our growth lately is folks who are dissatisfied with their current low-bid provider. It’s more than the low bid if we can improve operations and create efficiencies to reduce costs.
STN: Tank you. l
www.stnonline.com 43
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