WASHINGTON -- Coach America is close to sealing a second contract with the U.S. government that will again put it in charge of coordinating federal emergency bus evacuation services for the '07 hurricane season that begins today.

Negotiations with the U.S. Department of Transportation were expected to be completed by the end of May or early this month, according to Coach America Chief Executive Craig Lentzsch.

"It is highly likely that we will get it done in the next two weeks, but you just never know with government negotiations," he said.

The Dallas-based motorcoach company provided the services for the 2006 hurricane season under a $32.5 million contract that contained an option for a second year. Although USDOT exercised the option, details of the planning, operations and amount of money were subject to negotiations.

USDOT sought a contract with an experienced motorcoach operator after being heavily criticized by the bus industry and others for the way it handled evacuation services in 2005 when deadly hurricanes struck Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

After Hurricane Katrina hit in late summer 2005, the federal government used a trucking logistics company to coordinate bus evacuations. The trucking outfit farmed the work out to other transportation businesses, including a national limousine service and two bus brokers. Dozens of motorcoach operators hired by the subcontractors had great difficulty getting paid for their work, some having to wait months to get their money.

Stung by the criticism, USDOT took a new look at its evacuation programs and opted in 2006 to go with Coach America, the second-largest motorcoach operator in North America after Coach USA.

Lentzsch said this years contract is expected to be different than the one the company had with the government last year because there were no major storms along the Gulf Coast, the area most prone to hurricanes during the usual five-month season, June 1 to Nov. 30.

Under last years contract, Coach America staged 200 coaches in Carville, La., about 20 miles south of Baton Rouge, which would have been available for evacuations on 24-hour notice. In addition, the company signed on another 1,100 close-by coaches that remained in daily operations, but would have been available within 48 hours.

None of the 1,300 coaches would have been used until the states had exhausted their own resources and supply of buses and needed help from the federal government.

Lentzsch said the new contract is expected to require Coach America to have available between 1,000 and 1,300 coaches that would remain in service, but be close enough to respond to an emergency within 48 hours. Some of them could arrive within 36 hours, depending on their location when the call for help goes out.

Doing away with the staged coaches that would be available within 24 hours appears to be due to the hurricane season being a bust last year and none of the coaches being used.

Lentzsch said placing a value on the buses is very complex and because they were not used last year, it would be easy for some people to conclude that the value to the government was not there.

"I disagree with that conclusion, though," he added. "We could move a whole lot of people during the 12-hour period between the 24 hours it would take to get the staged coaches there and the 36 hours it would take to get the other coaches there."

In addition to the planning and operational differences, USDOT is expected to turn over the contract -- after this years negotiations are completed -- to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It is not known why such a switch is being made, but FEMA is responsible for responding to emergencies.

Meanwhile, USDOT officials say they already are developing plans to solicit public bids for hurricane evacuation services for 2008. The initial two-year agreement that USDOT has with Coach America, which included the second-year option, expires Jan. 31, 2008.