How the Ministry of Education managed the 2008 national school bus transport tender process

In February 2009, we announced the terms of reference for our inquiry into how the Ministry of Education managed the 2008 national school bus transport tender process.

We formed our terms of reference after considering the scope of our mandate. The Auditor-General is not able to nullify contracts or overturn decisions that public entities make.

We reported the detailed findings and conclusions of our inquiry work directly to the Ministry today. The report is available on our website. We have also responded directly to the Minister of Education about our inquiry. This letter is also available on our website.

• Report to the Ministry
• Letter to the Minister
• Terms of reference for the inquiry

Summary of our findings

Overall, the Ministry’s procurement approach was sound. No process is perfect, and we found a number of areas for improvement that we expect the Ministry to address in any subsequent bus tender processes.

The errors and inconsistencies we found do not, in our view, undermine the overall outcome of the 2008 bus tender process. However, the Ministry must strengthen the quality assurance arrangements it has in place in subsequent bus tender processes.

Price was an important determining factor in the 2008 bus tender process. The influence of price in the 2008 bus tender process does not cause us concern, given the Ministry’s stated value-for-money objectives. There is no suggestion that safety was compromised as a result of this emphasis on price.

It is inevitable that some businesses will be unsuccessful in an open tender process. The fact that many of the businesses involved in the 2008 bus tender process were small, rurally located, and that the tender was about transporting school children in small tight-knit communities seemed to amplify the dissatisfaction that was expressed about the outcomes of the 2008 bus tender process.