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A  Review of South Carolina School Bus Purchases
October 1999

REPORT (PDF)     SUMMARY (PDF)

Members of the South Carolina General Assembly asked us to review the purchase of school buses by the State Department of Education (SDE). They asked that we review the specifications and SDE's compliance with procurement laws. We specifically excluded school bus operations from our review. We found that improvement was needed in the development of specifications, the schedule for replacing buses, and the process of procuring buses. Our findings are summarized as follows.

  • SDE requires that its conventional and transit buses have 250 horsepower. This horsepower requirement may be excessive, resulting in unnecessary extra cost for engines and transmissions estimated by one manufacturer to be as much as $7,000 for each conventional bus.
  • SDE's specifications for its transit bus frames may be restrictive, resulting in reduced competition and potentially higher prices. One bus manufacturer filed a protest in December 1998, stating that it no longer sold transit buses which met SDE's specifications for frame strength. The department could not, however, provide documentation that the frame it requires is more durable than the frame currently sold by the protesting manufacturer.
  • SDE has not purchased any 54- to 66-passenger conventional buses for its regular routes since FY 89-90. For its regular routes, the department has purchased only rear-engine transit buses with a seating capacity of 78 passengers. This practice may make it more difficult for local school districts to match seating capacities with low-density rural routes. In addition, the purchase price for rear-engine transit buses can be approximately 10% to 20% more than comparably equipped conventional buses of the same seating capacity and approximately 5% to 10% more than front-engine transit buses.
  • South Carolina has not been funding regular school bus and service vehicle replacement schedules. SDE has proposed to the General Assembly regular replacement schedules for its buses and service vehicles. SDE's proposed bus replacement schedule, however, is not based on formal analysis of the optimal replacement point.
  • SDE has not promulgated regulations that define the process for establishing school bus specifications. There is no regulation that requires approval from the State Board of Education. Without regulations that define the process for establishing specifications, including approval by the board, the public may not be adequately informed, and the board’s accountability is reduced.
  • SDE's restrictive specifications prevented the purchase of school buses through the regular procurement process in FY 98-99. A lengthy procurement process and the possibility of emergency procurements may continue unless the specifications for school buses are changed.
  • We could find no evidence that SDE staff conduct detailed inspections when buses are delivered to ensure that they meet the required specifications. To help ensure compliance with specifications, random inspections could be conducted by SDE when buses are delivered.
  • SDE and the Budget and Control Board Materials Management Office (MMO) could investigate ways to better meet the needs of school districts, obtain lower prices, and produce a more efficient procurement process. For example, SDE and MMO could:
    • Purchase buses jointly with other states in order to increase the volume of the purchase and decrease the cost of each bus.
    • Allow vendors to submit separate bids for the bodies and the chassis of conventional buses.
    • Purchase a variety of seating capacities and types of buses based on the needs of local school districts.
    • Divide the procurement process into two stages in order to avoid "last minute" protests regarding specifications. Vendors could first be required to submit a detailed description of the buses they would like to sell to the state so that compliance with the state’s specifications could be determined. Vendors who have had their buses pre-approved would then be permitted to submit price bids.