The Collectivity has mandated € 406 in invoices since November 916, for the benefit of the four transport companies.
The Collectivity of Saint-Martin has been doing everything it can for two weeks to put an end to the blocking situation decided by the 4 school transport companies that ceased their activity since October 28, in order to achieve a settlement of the sums due and a resumption of the school transport service, she recalls in a press release.
The meeting of Tuesday, November 18, held in the presence of technicians from the COM (education directorate and responsible for public procurement) and the four holders of the school transport contract, enabled the parties to identify the reasons for rejection of payment by the treasury, and to list corrective measures aimed at regularizing the invoices.
Indeed, following the publication of decree n ° 2020-260 of March 16, 2020 regulating travel in the context of the fight against the spread of the covid-19 virus, the four companies holding the public school transport contract have not been able to provide their services during the period of confinement.
The provisions of article 21 of the public school transport contract provide that for any interruption independent of the companies, the community is required to compensate them up to 100% of the service for the first day of inactivity, 90% on the second day. and 50% from the third day. However, these same provisions specify that if the carrier is notified at least 48 hours in advance by press release, fax or email, he is only entitled to compensation equal to 50% of the normal price of the service.
After discussion, the parties reached a convergent reading of the rule, and the Collectivity undertook to compensate the 4 carriers according to this latter method of calculation. They will be received individually by the Directorate of Education, in the course of next week, to notify them of the amount of compensation to which they are entitled. A letter recording the decisions taken at the meeting of November 18 will also be sent to them by the public order management.
The Community continued to process invoices for transport services performed outside of these two months of confinement. Since November 1, 2020, the COM has mandated no less than 33 invoices for the benefit of these carriers for a total amount of € 406. As these invoices do not present any particular payment difficulty, the treasury should be able to honor them very quickly.
The Collectivity deeply regrets the decision of the carriers to stop this public service, while there was a possibility of solving this situation without penalizing the pupils. In view of this significant progress and the needs of families, the Collectivity has asked the four carriers to resume this public service from Monday 23 November 2020.
According to the latest news, the transport companies have replied to the COM in the negative, with invoices that have been pending payment for a very long time and have not yet been paid.
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