The seriously flawed, over-budget, overdue, $120+ million Silver Spring Transit Center is a public-private partnership. Tens of millions in repairs are being spent on the severely cracked, under-designed, problem-plagued, glorified parking garage before it even opens.
The contractor/builder for the SSTC was selected by Montgomery County MD, instead of the SSTC being bid for construction, as has been standard practice for public works projects for decades. In choosing the SSTC's engineer/designer and concrete tester/inspector and Special Quality Inspector, Montgomery County didn't follow the decades' old, tried-and-true process for selecting professional service firms either. In the decades' old process, a request for qualifications from qualified professional services firms is advertised publicly. Dozens of firms submit their qualifications. The firms are evaluated, shortlisted and interviewed. The firm deemed most qualified is then selected to submit a detailed work and cost proposal. A professional services contract for the project is then negotiated with that firm. The SSTC's contractor/builder, engineer/designer and concrete testing and inspection firm and Special Quality Inspector were selected using public-private partnership, instead of the normal competitive procurement processes that have been used for public works projects for decades.
Funding for the SSTC is 53% federal (FTA), 11% State (MMTA) and 36% Montgomery County. How much of the $120+ million spent so far, and the tens of millions of dollars spent in repairs so far, do you think that the public has saved because Montgomery County used the noncompetitive, public-private partnership to select the contractor/builder, the engineer/designer and the concrete inspection/testing firm and Special Quality Inspector for the SSTC? ... What’s that you say? ... “a lot”? ... “some”? ... "it would have cost the same (noncompetitive and comptetitive)"? ... I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I’d like to sell you.
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