Two separate requests for bids by the School Department and the town to manage the busing operation for Wareham Public Schools are causing confusion among transportation contractors and residents.

Both the town and the School Department agree that the reason for the bids is to address concerns raised earlier this year by some citizens who questioned the safety of the department's fleet and suggested that the town could save money and get newer, safer buses by outsourcing services to private vendors. In an attempt to respond to this concern, the School Department and Town Administrator Mark Andrews took separate paths.

The School Department, which currently owns, maintains, and operates all the buses needed to transport students, issued a request for bids that could allow them to outsource all these activities to a private company. If a company is selected from this process, the School Department will hand over the entire busing responsibility to them.

The town issued its own request for bids to find a vendor to own and mechanically maintain the large school buses that are the core of the school fleet -- leaving the school department to continue to handle special education and athletic transportation, employ bus drivers, and do all the bus scheduling.

Bids for the town's request are due this Friday, Dec. 17. The School Department bids are due on Monday, Dec. 20. What happens after that is clear as mud.

Here's the history:

The state of the school bus fleet became a hot topic early this year when resident Ellen Begley requested information about bus safety records after she heard media reports that the school buses were in a "state of disrepair."

Begley received assistance from the Board of Selectmen in obtaining the safety records after being dissatisfied with the School Committee's response. She subsequently presented reports that indicated that, of the 328 school buses inspected between 2008 and 2010, 190 failed and 147 were taken out of service.

School officials have steadfastly maintained that no children have been put at risk because of mechanical problems with buses. But, in response to the report of inspection failures, the School Committee formed a Transportation Advisory subcommittee in May to examine the district's busing operation.

That committee was suspended in September. School Committee member Kenneth Fontes, who chairs the subcommittee, explained at the time that a new school transportation manager needed a chance to take the reins of the department.

Selectman Brenda Eckstrom, a member of the Transportation Advisory subcommittee who has been critical of the School Department's busing operation, reacted angrily to the suspension. In response to her continued concern about school bus safety, the Board of Selectmen voted to allow Town Administrator Mark Andrews to investigate putting the busing operation out to bid.

(Eckstrom's frustration resurfaced Tuesday evening as she told her colleagues about School Committee members' criticism of Andrews' role in putting busing out for bids. She displayed a thick portfolio of papers, which she referred to as research she had done on the subject but had not been given an opportunity to present to the subcommittee.)

Meanwhile, Fontes and School Committee Chair Cliff Sylvia said it was always the committee's goal to put out a bid for the district's transportation services, in an effort to determine if it is still cost-effective for the district to operate and maintain its own fleet.

Both parties have expressed confusion about what the other was doing in the bidding process, and Superintendent Dr. Barry Rabinovitch told the School Committee last week that vendors have been stopping by his office for information on the town's request.

The School Department currently owns 48 buses, which includes special education buses. If the department accepts one of the bids, Wareham Public Schools would essentially be out of the transportation business.

On the town side, Andrews is requesting bids for 30 new or near-new 77-passenger school buses. The contractor would be responsible for owning and maintaining those vehicles.

Andrews explained that in this plan, the School Department would continue to maintain the additional vehicles needed for special education and other transportation needs. The School Department would also continue to employ the drivers and oversee bus operations.

"When the committee was meeting … it was about the buses. I didn't hear a thing about the drivers. It was really focused on the commodity of the buses," Andrews explained as the reason that he and the Selectmen chose to put just buses out to bid.

Rabinovitch and School Committee members said they hope to collaborate with the town after the bids are in.

"I think we need to move forward," Fontes told the School Committee on Dec. 8. "We can sit here and go back and forth with each other, and it's not going to accomplish anything."

Rabinovitch acknowledged this week that the process is confusing because the two separate bids could essentially "cancel each other out."

If the "Town Administrator works with the Superintendent to come up with recommendations for the school board, we can still accomplish our goals," Rabinovitch said. "Our goal is to document whether it is cheaper to keep transportation in-house before getting new vehicles."

Andrews confirmed that he plans to work with the School Department during the process, and said that having the two separate requests could be helpful in the long run.

"If somebody's going to sharpen their pencil and give us a bid, we get a chance to take a look at it," Andrews said. "You can sit back and take back the best option that's in front of you."