💰💰💰 Watch as @mocoboe Wastes $500K of Education Funding. Couldn't be Bothered to Put Purchase out for Competitive Bids or Use Existing Contract.

 $500,000  

That's how much the Board of Education overspent on the purchase of school buses on August 23, 2022.

That's nothing in Montgomery County, Maryland, right? 

Montgomery County is a wealthy county, and no one cares about spending an extra $500,000, not even when the money could have gone to paying teachers, substitutes, school staff or for classroom supplies. 

Montgomery County is flush with cash.  

On Tuesday, August 23, 2022, the Montgomery County Board of Education approved an "emergency" purchase of $9.7 million dollars for diesel school buses.  

The Board of Education already had an existing contract in place that could have been used to purchase the school buses, but they didn't bother to use that contract.  

They could have put out a Request for Proposal (RFP) for this purchase and taken bids, evaluated vendors (minority/women/disabled) but they didn't bother to do that either. One vendor has already filed a Protest.

They ended up spending $500,000 more than they would have if they just used the contract they already had in place. 

The Board of Education meeting covered this no RFP, no bid purchase for exactly 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

A MCPS administrator shuffled some papers around, gave no explanation for why this was an "emergency" and the Board unanimously voted to spend an extra $500,000 on school buses.  

Watch: