Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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128. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the school transport system was not put out for tender. [38954/18]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.

In the 2017/18 school year over 117,000 children, including over 12,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 4,500 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually at a total cost of almost €190 million in 2017.

This service is delivered using a mix of Bus Éireann, both school transport and road passenger vehicles, and private contractor vehicles. In this regard over 90% of school transport services are provided by private operator vehicles under contract to Bus Éireann.

The Value for Money Review published in 2011 recommended that a single national organiser (separate from the Department of Education and Skills) with a regional dimension should operate the scheme. The Review further recommended that the single national organiser should continue to be Bus Éireann.

Bus Éireann is obliged to tender all works, goods and services in line with the European Directives on public procurement, which includes school transport services performed by contractors under the School Transport Scheme. In this regard, some 20% of services provided by contractors are put out to tender each year and five year contracts are generally awarded following this tender process.

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.