Preston — School officials have received two bids from firms interested in taking over the school bus service for the town's two public schools and transporting students to Norwich Free Academy.

Dattco, Inc. of New Britain and Student Transportation of America (STA), Inc. have submitted bids to run the service for three years with a possible extension to five years. Preston is one of 13 towns in the state that still operates its own school buses and employs drivers and mechanics.

The contract with the union representing bus drivers and mechanics gives them the option to modify their contract to match bids and retain the local service.

Dattco proposed running the large 71-passenger buses for $377 per bus per day in the first year, $388 in the second year and $400 in the third year. In addition, the contract appears to show that special education prices would be $330, $340 and $351 per day in the three years. But school Finance Director Greg Schuyler said he will need to clarify those figures with the company.

STA, which runs school bus service in several local municipalities, proposed running the large buses at a cost of $325 per bus per day in the first year, $333 in the second year and $341 in the third year. STA would charge hourly rates for special education transportation, $50 per hour the first year, $51 in the second year and $52 per hour in the third year.

Both companies also included fees for late buses, athletic trips and other services.

Superintendent John Welch said while he would have liked to receive more bids - seven firms attended a mandatory pre-bid meeting with school officials - he said having only two bids will make it easier to analyze the financial terms of the submittals.

Welch said he hopes to have the analysis completed by Friday.

The bid process is the first step in conducting formal feasibility study to determine whether the town would save significant money by contracting out for bus services. The board last conducted a feasibility study in 2010 and determined there were not significant advantages then to making the change, Superintendent John Welch said.

The board's contract with the Connecticut State Employees Association-Service Employees International Union (CSEA-SEUI) Local 2001 allows the board to conduct the feasibility study and outlines the specific procedure. The process allows the union to respond with an alternative proposal and to discuss that proposal and possibly modify it before the Board of Education makes a final decision.

"If the union's alternative proposal will result in providing quality and savings equal to or greater than the potential savings identified in the feasibility study," the union contract stated, "the union's alternative proposal will be implemented."

Union representative Brendan Merrill said Monday that the union will have no official comment during the process. The union will meet today, and members plan to attend the Board of Education Transportation Subcommittee meeting Wednesday to track progress in the bid review.

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