General Information
This Section, Picking of Runs, pertains only to contractors with contracts presently in effect and may later be modified to integrate new contractors. Each Contractor is assigned a certain number of vehicles to operate in an item. This is the number of vehicles that originally was contracted with the Contractor, plus or minus additions and deletions as per the Contract. The route that the vehicle will service is called a run. Runs are constantly being adjusted and revised. Pupils and schools may be added and subtracted or session times changed depending on the needs of the pupils. Runs may be assigned field trips or other work during the middle of the day.
The number of vehicles required to begin the school year is determined by OPT. Each Contractor will keep the same number of vehicles operated in the previous Contract Year to the extent that the said vehicles are needed to provide service at the start of the new School Year. The number of vehicles assigned will be adjusted on an item-by-item basis according to the increased or decreased need. The “run pick” combines the assignment of numbers of vehicles with the assignment of routes to the vehicles. The pick gives contractors the opportunity to choose the runs that are most advantageous to them. Within each item, contractors will be allowed to choose the number of runs assigned to the lowest-priced contractors first.
If additional vehicles are required during the course of the school year, they will be offered to the Contractor with the lowest rate (vehicle + escort) in the relevant contractual item.
Yearly Pick of Runs
Authorization to Pick Runs
The Contractor’s representatives may attend the pick by principal or other representative. If the Contractor sends a representative who is not listed in OPT’s records as a stockholder, officer or partner of the company, the representative must present an Authorization Form properly filled out. (See sample pick authorization forms1.) These forms will be sent to the Contractor with the announcement of pick dates and times. The appropriate form must be filled out by a company official-of-record and must be notarized or impressed with the corporate seal.
Separate authorization is required for each Contractor and designee; thus, if three (3) affiliated Contractors each designate two (2) authorized representatives, six (6) forms are required. These forms must be presented on the day that Contractors select their runs. No one other than a stockholder, an officer or a partner will be permitted to choose runs without an appropriate Authorization Form.
Sign-in procedures
For the pick, contractors are expected to login to the Pick Application System, where they will then be able to see their schedule (pick order) in their awarded item(s). As always, the lowest daily-weighted-average-priced Contractor in each item will be scheduled first, then the next lowest, etc. It is extremely important to login when the pick is scheduled to begin. If the Contractor is late for their scheduled pick order, higher priced contractors who are available may pick ahead of them.
“Pick” Procedures
When each Contractor’s pick order is reached, the respective Contractor will have fifteen (15) minutes to review the runs available and to select runs for its contract vehicles. The Contractor will be told the number of extended service and regular service runs to pick at this time. The numbers of the runs chosen will be recorded with the signature of the contractor or authorized representative, and the Contractor will receive email confirmation of the runs chosen. OPT personnel will be available to supervise the pick and to answer any questions about the runs.
Refusal of Vehicles (Runs)
A Contractor may not decline, surrender, relinquish or otherwise fail or refuse to continue performing work under one contract, item, or rate for the purpose or effect of making that work, or substantially similar work, available to be selected, picked, offered, or assigned under another contract or item with a higher daily rate. This restriction applies whether the higher priced contract, item, or rate is held by the same Contractor or by an affiliated company.
A Contractor also may not decline, surrender, relinquish, or otherwise fail or refuse to continue performing work under one contract, item, or rate for the purpose or effect of freeing vehicles, drivers, escorts (attendant), equipment, or other operational capacity to pick or accept other work under another item or contract with a higher daily rate.
Contracted /Additional
Contracted vehicles will be offered first (by item) beginning with the Contractor with the lowest daily rate (vehicle rate + escort rate).
- ”Contract vehicles” are vehicles that were originally awarded under the Contract.
- ”Additional vehicles” refer to any vehicles above the number originally awarded that subsequently have been assigned to the Contractor pursuant to the increase provisions of the Contract.
Additional
Contractors under this Contract will be offered (by item) additional vehicles beginning with the Contractor with the lowest daily rate (vehicle rate + escort rate).
Deletions
Deletions will be applied to the Contractor(s) with the highest daily rate (vehicle rate + escort rate) Adjacent Items
When all contractors in an item have refused additional work, remaining vehicles required in that item are offered to contractors in adjacent items. If this occurs during the pick, a list of items declared “adjacent” to the item of the vehicle being offered shall be prominently posted on the day of the pick. Contractors in those items will have the opportunity, in price order, to pick those runs. They will first be offered by item and then by vehicle type.
Restorations
If OPT eliminates any vehicle from the number of vehicles originally awarded to the Contractor before October 30th and such vehicle of the same type and geographical area is added again, it will be offered to the contractor who lost the vehicle with the lowest daily rate (combined vehicle and escort rate). The Contractor must accept restoration up to the number of originally awarded.
At no time will the Contractor be entitled to restoration of any additional vehicle previously deleted.
*If additional vehicles are needed OPT will use the procedures for offering additional starting with the lowest daily rate (combined vehicle and escort rate)
Additional Vehicle Assignment During the School Year
If additional vehicles are required during the course of the School Year, after the initial run pick they will distributed in the following fashion:
- Additional vehicles will be offered to the Contractor via phone or e-mail.
- Additional vehicles will be offered to the lowest-priced Contractor first, then the next lowest-priced contractor, and so on.
Contractors will receive Change Orders as official confirmation of additions and deletions of vehicles. Contractors must check the Change Orders carefully and retain them. They are the basis upon which adjustments in payment are made. If a Change Order is received without signatures, the Contractor should contact OPT immediately to ensure that it was not received in error.
***Where affiliate companies appear in the same item, it will not be permissible for a contractor to refuse work under a lower priced daily rate only to pick it up under a higher priced daily rate.
[1] Note that the Pick Order set forth on the chart below is as of August 24, 2012, and was in effect for the 2012-13 School Year. The prices listed and the relative Pick Order set forth herein are subject to change for each School Year. Some of the contracts included in the items on the chart below will expire on June 30, 2014 and some on June 30, 2015.