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WCPSS Saves Half Million Dollars with Creative Fuel Purchase for School Buses

March 9, 2011 – A purchasing decision made by Wake County Public School System staff will save taxpayers a half million dollars on diesel fuel costs to operate its school buses.

School Bus

Sensing that fuel prices would likely continue to rise for the foreseeable future, Bob Snidemiller, senior director for Transportation, and his staff started looking for alternative ways to purchase fuel that would result in a cost savings for the district.

"We anticipated our need for fuel to be 1.3 million gallons between Feb. 1 and June 30, so we decided to put the 1.3 million gallons out to bid," he said. "We accepted the low bid price of $2.85 per gallon and paid $3.7 million for the fuel to be stored at the vendor’s location fully insured and with free delivery all included in the bid price."

In the past, the school system would purchase fuel on a weekly or as-needed basis with the price of the diesel fuel varying with each purchase. On Monday, March 7, the state contract price, which varies and is used by most districts to purchase their fuel, was at $3.24 per gallon. If prices were to remain at that rate until June 30, the school system would see an approximate total savings this year of $500,000. If prices continue to rise, savings will be even greater.

Transportation staff proposed this new purchasing approach to the WCPSS Finance and Purchasing departments earlier this year and got their approval. Staff put the fuel out to bid the first week of February. 

Scott Doolittle, senior director of purchasing for WCPSS, said the district’s size helped the school system secure a bid that will result in a huge savings for the district. 

"We decided to take advantage of our volume to try some different purchasing methods to save money," he said. "We felt confident that with everything going on in the Middle East right now, it would turn out to be a good decision."

WCPSS operates 920 buses, and typically uses more than 60,000 gallons of diesel fuel per week. Each day, more than 73,000 students in Wake County are transported on WCPSS buses, covering more than 17 million miles a year.