With Seattle Public Schools potentially days away from confirming First Student with a three-year contract as the district’s primary school bus provider, their competition has accused the district of “arbitrarily and improperly” awarding the contract to First Student.
Raney decided to “take a chance” on Zum as the district’s primary transportation provider last year after the company had formerly provided car services to Oakland United for five years prior.Raney has experience with both companies and understands how they draft their proposals.
“A significant portion [of the violations] were really related to random alcohol and controlled substance testing, not just conducting them but how the company was conducting them,” Emily Brown, with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, told MyNorthwest. Zum contends that they provide cheaper wheelchair accessible buses than First Student, and had that been considered in their score with the district, they would rate higher in SPS’ evaluation as their proposal would factor out to approximately $7 million cheaper, according to a spokesperson with Zum.
“The proposals were evaluated and scored on multiple points by an interdepartmental SPS team including Operations, Transportation, and Finance. The scores were close and resulted with First Student receiving the highest score.” Zum Services conducted its own analysis of the RFP. Their argument tracks SPS’ scores across the two bids: the original best and final offer submitted in February, and that scored in April.
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