Montgomery County selected Parsons Brinkerhoff to design the Silver Spring Transit Center, Foulger Pratt to build it and Balter Company to perform concrete testing and inspection and to serve as Special Quality Inspector--not in open competition--but, as a public-private partnership.
More than half of the funding for the $120+ million Silver Spring Transit Center is federal funds (administered by the Federal Transit Administration). US citizens from all 50 states and territories are paying for the SSTC.
Traditionally, public works projects are bid for construction in an open process. Bids are opened and read publicly. The low bid is the winning bid (unless the low bid is deemed unresponsive in meeting basic project requirements set forth in construction documents—contract plans, specifications, etc.). Montgomery County selected Foulger Pratt to build the SSTC in a closed (public-private partnership) process, not the traditional, open, competitive process for selecting a builder for a public works project.
Traditionally, the process for selecting design professionals for public works projects includes: (1) an open, public Request For Proposal in which all qualified firms are invited to submit their professional qualifications to design the project, (2) shortlist—a panel of County employees typically selects the 3 to 5 most qualified firms to interview, (3) typically, the panel of County employees interviews each firm on its shortlist and selects the firm that they believe is most qualified to do the work (based on their initial qualifications submission and their interview), (4) the selected firm prepares a detailed work proposal, including manhours and cost and (5) the County negotiates a contract with the selected professional services firm. For the SSTC, Montgomery County chose Parsons Brinkerhoff to design the SSTC and Balter Company to provide concrete inspection and testing services in a closed (public-private partnership) process, not the normal, open, competitive process.
Do you think that US citizens from all 50 states and territories should pay for the seriously flawed, over-budget, overdue $120+ million SSTC, that is undergoing $10+ million in repairs before it even opens, when Montgomery County selected the builder/contractor, the engineer/designer and the concrete inspector/tester and Special Quality Inspector on its own, using a closed, noncompetitive process (public-private partnership), rather than the traditional, open, competitive process?
Does this pass your smell test?
No comments:
Post a Comment