Low Bidder For Burlington Bus Contract Threatens To Sue Town

BURLINGTON, MA — The owner of the company that submitted the lowest bid for Burlington's school bus contract said he will file a lawsuit if the school system does not accept his company's bid. John J. McCarthy of Dracut, who owns Trombly Motor Coach Service Inc. and NRT Bus Inc., said Trombly's bid is $200,000 lower per year than the $2.3 million, five-year contract town meeting approved for A&B Bus Co.in May. McCarthy also defended the safety record of both of his companies in an interview Tuesday.

"We bid on it five years ago, the last time it was up, and we were lower then, too. They threw it out on a technicality, and we did not pursue it," McCarthy said. "This time, I'm going to pursue it...We believe there's favoritism for (A&B). If they throw it out this time, I'm going to sue."

A&B was the only company to submit a bid, despite inquiries from 16 companies. The winning bid by A&B, which has held the contract for more than a decade, represented a 37 percent increase over the current contract. The school committee voted to recommend that town meeting approve the contract.

School Committee Considers Legal Options

Trombly submitted its bid after a complaint was filed with the state Inspector General over how the request for bids was handled. McCarthy said he did not file the complaint with the Inspector General. He said the company did not initially bid because it thought it was going to have its contract renewed in Hudson, but ended up losing the district to a lower bidder.

"That freed up the buses, and we figured we could put them to work in Burlington," he said.

The school district's attorney, Darren Klein, is reviewing information ahead of next week's special school committee meeting where the board will have to decide whether to stick with A&B's bid or award the contract to Tronbly. The dispute arose after a complaint was lodged with the Massachusetts Inspector General claiming that the contract was never listed in Commbuys, the state's official procurement record system.

"The school district's attorney, Darren Klein, is reviewing all of the information on the transportation bid and we are expecting him to provide some direction so that the School Committee can make a final decision on July 8," Assistant Superintendent of Learning Patrick Larkin. "The school bus contract has not been reopened at this time. The consultant is providing Attorney Klein with all of the information from the bidding process."

Superintendent Eric Conti is on vacation and unreachable until July 15. School committee members contacted by Patch have declined comment.

The school committee spent $5,000 in January to hire Rich Labrie of Public Management Associates of Westfield as a consultant to help it review its current bus contract. The contract called for the Labrie to review the existing contract, analyze current bus routes and look for areas to save money in the new contract. It's not clear why the consultant did not list the requested for bids with Commbuys, as required for contract over $50,000.

Owner Defends Trombly's Safety Record

Combined, McCarthy's companies operate 2,000 buses and transport more than 120,000 students in Massachusetts every school day. McCarthy said Trombly would be "great for the community" and said he would offer jobs to drivers who worked in Burlington for A&B. "Those people don't grow on trees; we absolutely want to hire them," he said.

McCarthy said the company has addressed high-profile incidents in recent years by putting new protocols and safety equipment in place on its equipment. In 2014, for example, Trombly fired a bus driver and monitor after overlooking a 3 1/2-year-old autistic boy on the bus in Methuen. The incident prompted an upgrade of safety equipment on all 280 of Trombly's vehicles, which are also equipped with GPS monitoring devices.

"We service a lot of communities and sometimes we make the news," McCarthy said. "But that doesn't mean we don't fix the issue once we realize there is a problem."

More recently, NRT suspended Shawn McCarthy, 48, of Exeter, NH, in May after he was arrested and charged with operating under the influence of drugs and other charges. The student that was on board the van with Shawn McCarthy "begged" him to stop after he hit another vehicle in Haverhill. When police arrived, Shawn McCarthy was lethargic and slurring his speech, according to court records.

But John McCarthy said the driver was "fine" when he came to pick in his keys and vehicle for the day. He said the driver took an Ambien after leaving the company's dispatch center, which led to the incident.

"We were the ones that reported Shawn" to police, McCarthy said. "This was an incident that could happen to any company. Once we realized there was a problem, we were the ones that made the call."

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).