The Challenge: Reducing Barriers to Electrifying School Buses
Despite the health benefits of going electric, school districts face barriers to electrifying their school bus fleets. Schools face additional costs to purchase buses and associated charging infrastructure. Around 70% of districts in Massachusetts don't own their own buses and instead lease them through a third-party transportation provider. Moreover, there is a technical gap between diesel bus and electric bus operation. Without additional funding and support, school districts – especially those with resource and budget constraints – are facing significant difficulties to electrifying.
About ACT School Bus Deployment Technical Assistance
Through the ACT School Bus program, MassCEC intends to deploy electric school bus projects across Massachusetts and provide fleet electrification planning support to school districts. MassCEC is accepting applications for the positions of two technical consultants to assist with the ACT School Bus program and address the gap in technical knowledge impeding school bus fleets from electrifying. The Deployment Technical Assistance Consultant will support school districts accessing federal clean school bus funding, help MassCEC with the selection of three or more deployment grants, and help grantees with bus procurement, charging stations and infrastructure, and coordination with other project stakeholders.
Program Timeline
ACT School Bus intends to have technical consultant applications open in July and select the consultants by September 2022. Selected consultants will assist school bus fleets when they are awarded in Fall 2022.
PROCESS STEP |
TIMING |
|---|---|
RFP Released |
July 27, 2022 |
Questions Due |
August 15, 2022 |
August 17, 2022 |
|
Proposals Due |
August 29, 2022 @ 4:00 p.m. EDT |
Selection Announcement |
September 2022 |
Who's Eligible
MassCEC seeks proposals from consultants or professionals with expertise in medium-duty fleet electrification.
An applicant or applicant team may consist of one or more individuals, sole proprietors, professional consultants, institutions or companies with multiple employees. MassCEC encourages potential applicants to form a team if necessary to provide all the requisite experience required for the Program or one or more of its primary scopes. Proposals must be submitted by a single lead Applicant and clearly identify relevant Applicant team sub-vendor(s) with whom to jointly respond to this RFP and the respective roles and experience.
Apply
Application Process
To respond to this RFP, submit a completed proposal in electronic form (one PDF file) via email to CleanTransportation@masscec.com.
"ESB Deployment Technical Assistance Program" must appear in the e-mail subject line.
Submission packages must include:
- Cover Page
- Applicant's Signature and Acceptance Form
- Proposal
- Team Member Resumes
Application Materials
Send completed application to CleanTransportation@masscec.com