Report spells out mismanagement of electric bus purchase in Montgomery County (Maryland) district

The Montgomery County (Maryland) district has mismanaged its $160 million contract for electric school buses, according to the county Inspector General.

Montgomery Community Media reports that the school district did not receive about two-thirds of the buses and did not require the company to pay penalties, according to the report that was  by the Office of Inspector General.

The report detailed the district's efforts to buy 326 electric school buses. It hasn’t received 206 buses.

The report found that the district was reluctant to enforce the terms of the agreement and failed to include penalties to offset incurred expenses. The failure has resulted in millions of dollars in wasted spending and has drastically hindered the district's ability to meet its environmental goals,” the report concluded.

Montgomery County is spending $14.7 million to acquire diesel buses to compensate for not receiving all the electric buses it ordered.

Although the district includes penalties for late delivery in its contract to buy diesel buses, it did not do that for the electric ones, according to the report. If it had used the same penalty rate, Montgomery County would have been entitled to $1.8 million.

The district issued a statement that it “will take the necessary actions to address the identified issues."