STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7231 IN SENATE March 24, 2010 ___________ Introduced by Sen. VALESKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to transportation contract pricing benchmarks The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 14 of section 305 of the educa- 2 tion law, as amended by section 1 of chapter 273 of the laws of 1999, is 3 amended to read as follows: 4 a. All contracts for the transportation of school children, all 5 contracts to maintain school buses owned or leased by a school district 6 that are used for the transportation of school children, all contracts 7 for mobile instructional units, and all contracts to provide, maintain 8 and operate cafeteria or restaurant service by a private food service 9 management company shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner, 10 who may disapprove a proposed contract if, in his opinion, the best 11 interests of the district will be promoted thereby. Except as provided 12 in paragraph e of this subdivision, all such contracts involving an 13 annual expenditure in excess of the amount specified for purchase 14 contracts in the bidding requirements of the general municipal law shall 15 be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, which responsibility shall 16 be determined by the board of education or the trustee of a district, 17 with power hereby vested in the commissioner to reject any or all bids 18 if, in his opinion, the best interests of the district will be promoted 19 thereby and, upon such rejection of all bids, the commissioner shall 20 order the board of education or trustee of the district to seek, obtain 21 and consider new proposals. All proposals for such transportation, main- 22 tenance, mobile instructional units, or cafeteria and restaurant service 23 shall be in such form as the commissioner may prescribe. Advertisement 24 for bids shall be published in a newspaper or newspapers designated by 25 the board of education or trustee of the district having general circu- 26 lation within the district for such purpose. Such advertisement shall 27 contain a statement of the time when and place where all bids received 28 pursuant to such advertisement will be publicly opened and read either EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD16508-01-0 S. 7231 2 1 by the school authorities or by a person or persons designated by them. 2 All bids received shall be publicly opened and read at the time and 3 place so specified. At least five days shall elapse between the first 4 publication of such advertisement and the date so specified for the 5 opening and reading of bids. The requirement for competitive bidding 6 shall not apply to an award of a contract for the transportation of 7 pupils or a contract for mobile instructional units, if such award is 8 based on an evaluation of proposals in response to a request for 9 proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision. The requirement 10 for competitive bidding shall not apply to annual, biennial, or trienni- 11 al extensions of a contract nor shall the requirement for competitive 12 bidding apply to quadrennial or quinquennial year extensions of a 13 contract involving transportation of pupils, maintenance of school buses 14 or mobile instructional units secured either through competitive bidding 15 or through evaluation of proposals in response to a request for 16 proposals pursuant to paragraph e of this subdivision, when such exten- 17 sions (1) are made by the board of education or the trustee of a 18 district, under rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioner, 19 and, (2) do not extend the original contract period beyond five years 20 from the date cafeteria and restaurant service commenced thereunder and 21 in the case of contracts for the transportation of pupils, for the main- 22 tenance of school buses or for mobile instructional units, that such 23 contracts may be extended, except that power is hereby vested in the 24 commissioner, in addition to his existing statutory authority to approve 25 or disapprove transportation or maintenance contracts, (i) to reject any 26 extension of a contract beyond the initial term thereof if he finds that 27 amount to be paid by the district to the contractor in any year of such 28 proposed extension fails to reflect any decrease in the regional consum- 29 er price index for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon 30 the index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) during the preceding twelve 31 month period or the average of the previous five years of the regional 32 consumer price index increases for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. 33 area, based upon the index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), whichever is 34 greater; and (ii) to reject any extension of a contract after ten years 35 from the date transportation or maintenance service commenced there- 36 under, or mobile instructional units were first provided, if in his 37 opinion, the best interests of the district will be promoted thereby. 38 Upon such rejection of any proposed extension, the commissioner may 39 order the board of education or trustee of the district to seek, obtain 40 and consider bids pursuant to the provisions of this section. The board 41 of education or the trustee of a school district electing to extend a 42 contract as provided herein, may, in its discretion, increase the amount 43 to be paid in each year of the contract extension by an amount not to 44 exceed the regional consumer price index increase for the N.Y., 45 N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon the index for all urban consum- 46 ers (CPI-U), during the preceding twelve month period or the average of 47 the previous five years of the regional consumer price index increases 48 for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon the index for all 49 urban consumers (CPI-U), whichever is greater, provided it has been 50 satisfactorily established by the contractor that there has been at 51 least an equivalent increase in the amount of his cost of operation, 52 during the period of the contract. 53 § 2. Paragraph a of subdivision 14 of section 305 of the education 54 law, as amended by section 2 of chapter 273 of the laws of 1999, is 55 amended to read as follows: S. 7231 3 1 a. All contracts for the transportation of school children, all 2 contracts to maintain school buses owned or leased by a school district 3 that are used for the transportation of school children, all contracts 4 for mobile instructional units, and all contracts to provide, maintain 5 and operate cafeteria or restaurant service by a private food service 6 management company shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner, 7 who may disapprove a proposed contract if, in his opinion, the best 8 interests of the district will be promoted thereby. All such contracts 9 involving an annual expenditure in excess of the amount specified for 10 purchase contracts in the bidding requirements of the general municipal 11 law shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, which responsi- 12 bility shall be determined by the board of education or the trustee of a 13 district, with power hereby vested in the commissioner to reject any or 14 all bids if, in his opinion, the best interests of the district will be 15 promoted thereby and, upon such rejection of all bids, the commissioner 16 shall order the board of education or trustee of the district to seek, 17 obtain and consider new proposals. All proposals for such transporta- 18 tion, maintenance, mobile instructional units, or cafeteria and restau- 19 rant service shall be in such form as the commissioner may prescribe. 20 Advertisement for bids shall be published in a newspaper or newspapers 21 designated by the board of education or trustee of the district having 22 general circulation within the district for such purpose. Such adver- 23 tisement shall contain a statement of the time when and place where all 24 bids received pursuant to such advertisement will be publicly opened and 25 read either by the school authorities or by a person or persons desig- 26 nated by them. All bids received shall be publicly opened and read at 27 the time and place so specified. At least five days shall elapse between 28 the first publication of such advertisement and the date so specified 29 for the opening and reading of bids. The requirement for competitive 30 bidding shall not apply to annual, biennial, or triennial extensions of 31 a contract nor shall the requirement for competitive bidding apply to 32 quadrennial or quinquennial year extensions of a contract involving 33 transportation of pupils, maintenance of school buses or mobile instruc- 34 tional units secured through competitive bidding when such extensions 35 (1) are made by the board of education or the trustee of a district, 36 under rules and regulations prescribed by the commissioner, and, (2) do 37 not extend the original contract period beyond five years from the date 38 cafeteria and restaurant service commenced thereunder and in the case of 39 contracts for the transportation of pupils, for the maintenance of 40 school buses or for mobile instructional units, that such contracts may 41 be extended, except that power is hereby vested in the commissioner, in 42 addition to his existing statutory authority to approve or disapprove 43 transportation or maintenance contracts, (i) to reject any extension of 44 a contract beyond the initial term thereof if he finds that amount to be 45 paid by the district to the contractor in any year of such proposed 46 extension fails to reflect any decrease in the regional consumer price 47 index for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon the index 48 for all urban consumers (CPI-U) during the preceding twelve month period 49 or the average of the previous five years of the regional consumer price 50 index increases for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon 51 the index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), whichever is greater; and 52 (ii) to reject any extension of a contract after ten years from the date 53 transportation or maintenance service commenced thereunder, or mobile 54 instructional units were first provided, if in his opinion, the best 55 interests of the district will be promoted thereby. Upon such rejection 56 of any proposed extension, the commissioner may order the board of S. 7231 4 1 education or trustee of the district to seek, obtain and consider bids 2 pursuant to the provisions of this section. The board of education or 3 the trustee of a school district electing to extend a contract as 4 provided herein, may, in its discretion, increase the amount to be paid 5 in each year of the contract extension by an amount not to exceed the 6 regional consumer price index increase for the N.Y., N.Y.-Northeastern, 7 N.J. area, based upon the index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), during 8 the preceding twelve month period or the average of the previous five 9 years of the regional consumer price index increases for the N.Y., 10 N.Y.-Northeastern, N.J. area, based upon the index for all urban consum- 11 ers (CPI-U), whichever is greater, provided it has been satisfactorily 12 established by the contractor that there has been at least an equivalent 13 increase in the amount of his cost of operation, during the period of 14 the contract. 15 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately provided that the amend- 16 ments to paragraph a of subdivision 14 of section 305 of the education 17 law made by section one of this act shall be subject to the expiration 18 and reversion of such paragraph pursuant to chapter 698 of the laws of 19 1996, as amended, when upon such date the provisions of section two of 20 this act shall take effect.