Jeff Green | Jan 27, 2021


In November of last year, the Tri-Board Student Transportation initiated a Request For Proposal (RFP) process for the awarding of contracts, to deliver students to schools, with the Limestone, Hastings-Prince Edward Public School Boards and the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic School Board, starting in September of 2021.

At the time, Gord Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of Tri Board told the Frontenac News then, that the contracts, which expire in June of 2021, do not include any provisions for extension, when asked if putting the added pressure on existing operators during the COVID-19 pandemic could be avoided.

He also said that the RFP process, for awarding new contracts, complies with the federal Competitions Act. However the “benchmarking” process that the Independent School Bus Operators of Ontario has been promoting, does not. “Benchmarking” is a process whereby a third-party determines the market price for delivering service on each of the routes and the existing contractor is given the option to enter into a contract at that price.

A number of school bus consortia in Ontario have used the “benchmarking” process to award contracts within the last couple of years, but Taylor said “we have a legal opinion that tells us benchmarking does not conform with the Competition Act, so we cannot use it. As for those who have used it, you would have to ask them about it.”

Taylor also said that, even though COVID-19 has increased the workload for the school bus operators in the Tri-Board region, “it is possible to complete this process.”

He said that contracts have continued to be awarded across all sectors in Ontario during the pandemic.

Last week, all that changed, and it now appears that the existing contract can be extended with the consent of Tri-Board and the individual operators.

Tri-Board put out a media release late on Tuesday, January 19 (after the Frontenac News went to press) that announced that the closing date for the RFP has been postponed until late in 2021 and that an extension to the existing contract will be negotiated with the existing operators.

“Due to the Declaration of Emergency in Ontario made on January 12, 2021, Tri-Board has made the decision to postpone the closing date of RFP #2020-01 into the latter part of 2021, in order to procure services starting in the 2022-2023 school year. Tri-Board will continue to monitor the developments surrounding the Emergency Declaration and its impact related to the revised closing date of the RFP ... To ensure that there is no disruption in service to students for the 2021-2022 school year, Tri-Board will be extending the existing Student Transportation Services Agreements for one (1) additional year, following the August 31, 2021 expiry date. The agreements will now expire on August 31, 2022. This extension will come into effect once we have received the signed amendments from our Supplier Partners,” said the release.

Independent school bus companies in the Tri-Board region have expressed the concern, based on what has happened in other parts of Ontario where the RFP process has been implemented, that smaller companies tend to be forced out of the market in favour of three large multinational busing companies.

Without the contracts that represent up to 100% of their revenue, the small companies have been forced to close.

Tri-board tried to bring in an RFP process in 2013, but Tri-board bussing companies were able to obtain a court injunction at that time to stop the process. The judge awarded a 5-year contract to the operators.

In response to this latest RFP, the operators of the Tri Board Bus Operator Association have gone back to court to seek a similar injunction. The new court case is pending.

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