Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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558. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will liaise with Bus Éireann with a view to implementing fairer tendering criteria for school bus routes so that companies in receipt of substantial funding for community transport provision will not be able to displace private operators who do not benefit from other public sources of funding; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45915/15]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Bus Éireann is obliged to tender all works, goods and services in line with the European Directives on public procurement. This includes school transport services performed by contractors under the School Transport Scheme, which Bus Éireann operates on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills.

Bus Éireann is satisfied that the tendering process is a competitive process which allows the Company achieve value for money, enables eligible parties to participate, provides transparency on how contracts are awarded, and facilitates equality of treatment. All of those elements reflect public procurement requirements at both a national and EU level. The rules of the process and conditions of tendering are clearly outlined in the tender documentation.

The experience of the driver assigned to perform the service is one of the award criteria, and while previous experience with the company is taken into account Bus Éireann is not permitted to conduct a process which provides an incumbent operator with an unfair advantage.

Bus Éireann has further confirmed that, on the basis of legal advice, the recipient of Government funding cannot be automatically excluded from participating in a public procurement tender competition.

Generally a five-year contract is awarded to the successful tenderer. This provides security for the duration of the contract to the contractor as well as stability, in terms of familiarity with transport arrangements, for the families, schools, and children concerned.