In a special meeting Monday, the School Committee re-awarded contracts that had been the cause of some legal controversy to Vito’s Express, Inc. of Johnston for $443,600.

The contracts had previously been awarded to Jada Trucking, LLC, without a competitive bidding process and whose owner, David Oliver, is the cousin of Warwick Public Schools Director of Facilities and Operations Kevin Oliver. An outside investigator hired by WPS is currently looking into how the bid was awarded, according to School Committee Chair Shaun Galligan, and a State Police investigation is underway at the request of Mayor Frank Picozzi.

Galligan said that WPS is instituting safeguards to make sure that similar incidents wouldn’t happen again.

“Until further notice- this is a safeguard that has already been instituted- all purchasing decisions, including decisions from subcomittees, must be authorized by the superintendent,” Galligan said.

Initially, the School Committee awarded the bids for moving furnishings from Holliman Elementary School to the Gorton Administration Building, where school will be conducted as  renovations are underway at Holliman, and moving materials out of the Drum Rock building, which is closing, to Exeter-based Astro of New England LLC. The third bid - moving furniture and other materials back into Greenwood Elementary School - was awarded to Vito’s.

Astro, however, said they would not take up the project unless they received all three projects. That left committee members concerned about whether Vito’s, who the School Committee has never worked with before, would be up to the task, and led to the bid becoming contingent on Astro informing the committee by 2:30 p.m. Monday to accept the  two bids awarded.

Ultimately, the committee decided not to award Astro all three projects, with committee member David Testa noting that Vito’s was the low bidder overall. Following the meeting  Astro president Chuck Lamendola confirmed  the company rejected the award.

Galligan said that upon being told that they would not get all three projects, Astro requested to take only the Drum Rock project, which Galligan said was “not part of the deal.”

“We’re the customer, and if they don’t want the business because they’re only getting a piece of the business, it’s fine by me, the door’s right there,” Galligan said.

Another concern that committee members was whether  Vito’s is equipped to complete such large scale projects,, with Testa noting that the references that Vito’s gave were smaller-scale projects.

Mike Iafrati, an advisor for the School Building Committee, said Vito’s references were a positive sign, pointing out one from Lifespan that said that they were asked to do a difficult move for them and “rose to the occasion.”

“I feel comfortable that they could do the work, but we don’t have experience with them, so it would just be a feeling at this point,” Iafrati said.

Director of Technology Jeff Taylor noted that the School Committee received assurances both verbally and in writing by Vito’s that they could meet the schedule in the schools’ request for proposal, but noted that there were no provisions if they did not meet those dates.

With three weeks left until schools open, Galligan said that making sure that Holliman at Gorton and Greenwood are ready to begin school on time is of the utmost importance for the School Committee and the administration.

“All parties feel comfortable and confident that this is the route to go,” Galligan said. “We have to open schools [in three weeks]… if those schools aren’t opening, it’s on our heads.”

Other meeting business

The School Committee unanimously approved a three-year contract with First Student, Inc. for a total of $29.2 million, according to Superintendent Lynn Dambruch.

In total, according to Testa, the contract will be worth $9.3 million this year, and will increase by 10% for vehicles and 12% for associated labor costs over the course of all three years.

School committee members commended the contract, with Galligan lauding a clause guaranteeing that WPS would not have to pay for bus rides should the bus arrive more than 90 minutes late. Additionally, as part of the contract, all buses will have cameras on them.