How to bid on a school bus contract: a step-by-step guide for contractors

Search for how to bid on a school bus contract and most of page 1 is a district's own bid package: a 60-page PDF written for lawyers, not for the person who has to fill it in. This guide is the contractor's side of it. It covers how districts buy bus service, each step from the day a bid is posted to the first morning run, what gets scored besides price, and the mistakes that get a good bid thrown out.

Rules differ by state and by district, so take this as the order to work in. The bid package in front of you always wins over anything written here.

Bid or RFP? How school districts buy bus service

Most districts buy student transportation in one of two ways, and it changes how you write your response.

• An invitation to bid (also called a bid or a sealed bid). Every bidder prices the same routes on the same form, the bids are opened in public, and the contract goes to the lowest responsible bidder: the cheapest one that meets every requirement. New Jersey's law, for example, says pupil transportation contracts above a dollar limit must be advertised in a local newspaper at least 10 days before bids are due, and awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.
• A request for proposals (RFP). Proposals are scored against criteria the RFP lists, and price is only one of them. Your written answers about safety, drivers and buses can win or lose the contract.

Here's how one New York district scored its 2022 transportation RFP out of 100 points. Proposals scoring below 75 weren't considered at all:

In that RFP, 70 of the 100 points had nothing to do with price. A small contractor with clean inspections, a written safety program and good driver records can compete with a bigger company's price.

How to bid on a school bus contract, step by step

1. 1Get on the bidders' list. Register on the district's purchasing page or e-procurement portal, and ask the business office to add you to its transportation bid list. Our guide on how to find school bus contracts near you covers where routes are posted.
2. 2Download the whole package, and every addendum. Write the key dates on one page: the pre-bid meeting, the last day for questions, the due date and time, the bid opening, and where and how to deliver (sealed envelope, a portal upload, or both).
3. 3Go to the pre-bid meeting, even when it's optional. You'll hear other contractors' questions, meet the transportation director, and sometimes learn which routes are changing.
4. 4Read the specifications twice. List the routes, the vehicle type and capacity for each, the oldest model year allowed, which routes need an aide or a wheelchair lift, the number of school days, the contract term and any renewals, the insurance minimums, the bonds, the payment terms, and the penalties (often called liquidated damages) for late or missed runs.
5. 5Drive or map every route. Count the real miles, including the drive from your yard to the first stop and back from the last school. See what deadhead means for a school bus.
6. 6Price each route in the unit the district asks for — per route per day, per bus, per hour or per mile, often with separate lines for aides and extra miles. How much school bus contractors charge per route shows how to build a daily rate, and the free route price calculator does the math.
7. 7Ask your questions in writing before the deadline. Answers usually go out to every bidder as an addendum, and you'll be asked to acknowledge each addendum on your bid.
8. 8Fill in every form exactly as written. Bid security, non-collusion affidavit, insurance certificates, ownership disclosure and more. Our school bus RFP checklist for contractors lists them.
9. 9Deliver it early, sealed and labeled the way the package says. A bid that arrives one minute late is usually returned unopened.
10. 10Go to the bid opening. In a sealed bid, prices are often read aloud, so you learn where you stood even if you don't win.

What districts look at besides price

• Safety program: written training, the child check, evacuation drills, accident procedures.
• Drivers: license class and endorsements, medical cards, background checks, drug and alcohol testing, driving records and training.
• Buses: model years, inspection results, a replacement plan, and spare vehicles for breakdowns.
• Maintenance: a preventive maintenance schedule and records to prove you follow it.
• Accident history, references, and experience with routes like these.
• Financial strength: can you buy buses, carry payroll, and get the required bonds?

Mistakes that get a school bus bid rejected

• Arriving late, or delivered to the wrong office.
• A missing signature, notarization or bid bond.
• Not acknowledging an addendum.
• Changing the bid form, or adding your own conditions ("price valid only if we get all routes") — that can make a bid non-responsive.
• Pricing in the wrong unit, or arithmetic that doesn't add up.
• Fewer copies than asked for, or a missing electronic copy.

After you win: the first 30 days

1. 1The board votes on the award at a public meeting; then you sign the contract.
2. 2Send the final insurance certificates (often naming the district as additional insured) and the performance bond if one is required.
3. 3Send the district your list of drivers and vehicles for approval, if it asks for one, and get every bus inspected the way your state requires.
4. 4Give each driver a route sheet with the stops, times and students' needs, and run the routes before the first day if you can.
5. 5Ask for the PO or contract number, the billing contact and the payment terms before your first invoice.

Doing it in FleetCommander

FleetCommander doesn't find or submit bids for you. What it does is keep the numbers and the proof a bid asks for. Under Calculators, the Route price tab works out a price per day, per school year and per mile, and Use my numbers fills it in from your own last 12 months: fuel from your fill-ups, maintenance from your work orders, insurance from your policies' premiums, and driver pay from your company pay rate. See the Calculators guide.

For the safety and fleet sections of an RFP, Reports has Driver roster, Training & screening status, Vehicle age, Inspection compliance, Preventive maintenance compliance and Incidents by vehicle. Print them, or export them to CSV, Excel or PDF — tick rows to include only the drivers and buses you'll put on the contract (Reports guide). Insurance keeps each policy with its certificate of insurance attached and reminds you before it expires.

Once you win, Manage › Import CSV on Routes brings in the routes, schools and students from a spreadsheet, each route with its Price per school day, and every driver put on a route is told straight away. Where district invoicing is switched on for your company, the district's page keeps its PO or contract number and Payment terms, and each month's invoice is counted from the schools' calendars.

Before you seal the envelope, ask Ava (Beta), the assistant in FleetCommander: What's our compliance score?, Which licences expire this month?, Which insurance policies are active? or What maintenance is overdue? See her page.

Related reading: the school bus RFP checklist for contractors, how a fuel adjustment clause works, school bus contractor vs district-owned buses and how to start a school bus contracting company.