Maryland education board upholds ruling that Montgomery County's 168 million dollar electric bus contract was illegal
By Eve
Maryland's State Board of Education has denied Montgomery County Public School District's appeal and confirmed its earlier finding that the district's 168 million dollar electric bus contract with Highland Electric Fleets violated procurement rules. The district terminated the contract last summer after Highland delivered only 285 of 326 contracted electric buses. The state board's 11 page report cited arbitrary and unreasonable bidding procedures, delivery delays, the district's failure to recover 372,000 dollars for non operational buses, and criminal convictions of two former MCPS transportation officials including an assistant director who stole over 300,000 dollars from the project.
Why it matters
The ruling underscores procurement compliance risks in large scale electric bus deployments and highlights how procedural failures can derail major fleet electrification contracts. School districts and fleet operators pursuing similar transitions must ensure rigorous oversight and adherence to competitive bidding rules to avoid costly contract terminations and legal challenges.
Source
- Original title
- “Maryland Board of Education denies appeal by MCPS, says electric bus contract is illegal”
- Published
- 28 January 2026 (date approximate)
- Updated
- 22 September 2026
In this story
- Topic
- Electric Vehicles
- Place
- United States
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