Opinion ID: 354255
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The School Bus Industry

Text: 6 An analysis of the propriety of Judge Varner's order requires us to examine closely the school bus industry and to attempt to understand the product, the sellers and the buyers. 8 While an inquiry into the merits of a cause of action is never appropriate when making a class action determination, a full understanding of the underlying facts is usually essential if one hopes to correctly apply the requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 23. 7 School buses are comprised of two basic parts bodies and chassis which are separately manufactured. These bodies and chassis are sometimes sold as complete bus units and other times are sold separately. Plaintiffs brought this lawsuit only against the six manufacturers and seven Alabama distributors of school bus bodies and did not join as defendants other distributors throughout the country or the manufacturers of school bus chassis. The manufacturer defendants in this lawsuit are said to be the only manufacturers of school bus bodies in the United States, but there are approximately 400 local distributors of school buses across the country. 8 Each school bus body is a passenger coach for which the structure, configuration, and equipment are designed to meet an individual purchaser's specifications. The fifty states have varying and comprehensive school bus specifications. These specifications prescribe the physical configuration, materials, construction, and equipment for school buses used in that state. Also, many local governmental purchasers require even more stringent standards than those contained in the state specifications. In addition to the differences in school buses required by minimum state or local specifications, significant variations result from the particular needs of a purchaser. For example, special equipment and design must be utilized to accommodate the handicapped; the number of pupils that require carriage dictates size; engine size varies according to the terrain that must be traveled; and the climate determines the heating and cooling equipment to be installed. A. 243. Thus, a school bus is not a homogeneous product. Each bus must meet the individualized specifications of thousands of different public entities which purchase school buses each year. 9 9 There are also substantial differences in the ways in which public entities purchase school buses. Initially, it must be recognized that school buses are, for the most part, sold to the independent distributors in the various states who in turn resell them to their customers. 10 In all, the defendant manufacturers and their local distributors sell school bus bodies to more than 16,000 governmental entities nationwide. The authority for these governmental entities to purchase school buses is generally granted by a state statute, but in some instances local school systems may require buses to be purchased in a particular manner. Thus, state purchasing procedures may be governed by statute, by state-wide regulations, by rules of various purchasing entities, or by local customs and habits. 10 The most common purchasing practice utilized by the states is the solicitation of competitive bids and the awarding of the contract to the lowest responsible bidder. 11 Several states maintain complex systems whereby the state government's purchasing department solicits competitive bids, 12 and, based on such bids, establishes a maximum bid price for each basic type of school bus. Other public bodies or agencies authorized to make school bus purchases are then free to purchase buses at the maximum state bid price or to solicit bids on their own behalf and enter into purchase agreements with the lowest responsible bidders provided that these bids do not exceed the maximum state bid. Several other states have unique purchasing procedures. For example, the defendants point to Florida where the purchase prices may be negotiated rather than bid when it is determined to be in the best interest of the school district. App. 249. In Maine, there is no detailed statutory procedure governing purchases. Rather, Maine law gives local school superintendents broad discretion to purchase school buses in the most economical manner that is consistent with the welfare and safety of pupils, subject only to approval by the State Commissioner of Educational and Cultural Services. App. 249. Finally, the defendants bring to our attention the practices employed in three other states 13 which do not require the public agencies to solicit bids at all, but instead authorize each agency to establish its own purchasing practices and procedures. App. 250.