Superintendent George Arlotto announced today that Anne Arundel County Public Schools will reissue its Request for Proposals (RFP) for bus routing software this week, after no responsive bidder met the criteria to be awarded a contract.
The RFP sought bidders who could provide software to examine bus routes to determine efficiencies in those routes as well as handle terms of contract payments to help ensure proper account billing and accounting of those 19 bus contracts with bus companies. The school system received three responses, one of which was subsequently withdrawn. Of the two remaining bids, neither conformed to the terms and conditions of the RFP or could adequately perform both the routing and contract accounting aspects.
“As we have said all along, we were seeking a package that would allow us to maximize savings in both areas,” Dr. Arlotto said. “We want to save time and mileage with the routing piece and realize potential monetary savings with the contract monitoring piece. I am disappointed that we could not find a single coordinated solution that comprehensively addresses both areas, so we will now separate the two elements, and expedite the bid process on the routing software to ensure that we lose as little time as possible in getting that piece up and running.”
The routing software bid will be reissued this week, with a closing date of mid-July. A contract is expected to be presented to the Board of Education at its August 20 meeting. At its June 17 meeting, the Board directed Dr. Arlotto to report back in February on the information gleaned from the use of the software.
“It is my expectation that we will have an increased number of bidders on the routing software alone, and that we will lose little time in moving this process forward,” Dr. Arlotto said. “I have been clear, even before this development, that we will not have all the answers when we report to the Board in February. This will be an evolving process, but I am confident we will be able to meet the Board’s timeline and continue to move forward on adjusting school start times for the 2016-2017 school year in a way that will be communicated to parents and the community at large in plenty of time to allow them to make any necessary adjustments.
The County Council appropriated $738,600 for the software and an analyst to run the program in its Fiscal Year 2016 appropriation to the Board. The recruitment process for the analyst will also get under way this week.