Federal audit details Big Dig troubles
By Christopher A. Szechenyi, Boston.com Staff, 04/11/00
The newly named head of the Big Dig promised this afternoon to take steps to restore the credibility of the project with both the public and the federal government.
Andrew Natsios, 50, who had been state secretary of administration and finance and who once ran the U.S. government's famine-relief efforts in Somalia, said he plans to make changes in the management of the $13 billion project after he receives a report from the independent accounting firm of Deloitte and Touche.
"What the Big Dig needs now is a change of culture," Natsios said during a packed press conference at the Statehouse. "I collect a lot of smart people, I create a culture of openness and I try to inspire people to do the best they have to offer."
Earlier in the day, Gov. Paul Cellucci appointed Natsios chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, replacing James Kerasiotes. The move came in the wake of a federal audit that highlighted what Cellucci called "a real breakdown in trust" between the state and federal government over the Big Dig.
The Turnpike Authority oversees Interstate 90 and the $13 billion Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project, which is tunneling about three miles of highway beneath the city of Boston.
The federal audit said Big Dig officials deliberately withheld information about a $1.4 billion cost overrun, and predicted the work could cost as much as $13.6 billion by the time it is completed in 2005.
Speaking at the same press conference, Cellucci said he is not embarrassed by the report or the need to ask for Kerasiotes's resignation.
"This happened on my watch, and we're taking steps to restore the credibility of the project," he said.
When asked whether or not Kerasiotes had lied about the cost of the project, Cellucci would only say: "There was a withholding of documentation and I think that was wrong. In his zeal to do the job, he did something you can't do in a democracy: the intentional withholding of information."
Cellucci characterized the phone conversation in which he requested Kerasiotes's resignation as "difficult," and said Kerasiotes didn't expect to be asked to step down.
The audit, released this morning in Washington, D.C., recommends that U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater ask Cellucci to "reevaluate the appropriateness" of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority's role in overseeing the day-to-day management of the Artery project. It calls the authority a "high risk" recipient of federal money.
Cellucci was asked whether he plans to leave the project in the authority's hands. "Whether it's with the Turnpike Authority or not, Andrew Natsios will be in charge," he said.
The audit also blasts Massachusetts' plan for paying for the cost overruns, saying it "does not provide a sound source of revenue."
"Several of the proposed revenue sources have questionable legislative support," the audit continues. "The Commonwealth of Massachusetts does appear to have adequate funds to finance the overrun but has not yet specifically identified which of those revenue sources will be applied."
Cellucci said he had called Senate President Thomas F. Birminhgam and House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran to try to break the funding logjam.
"We all realize we have to come to some resolution by the end of the month," he said.
The audit report, prepared for Slater, suggests that Big Dig officials identify potential cost saving measures but also says "there are limited opportunities for significant savings on the remaining major construction projects."
Calling the lack of candor about cost overruns "a serious breach of the federal/state partnership," the audit also faults the regional office of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for failing to monitor the project more closely.
"The FHWA failed to exercise independent critical oversight of project costs," the report says. "The Central Artery project staff and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority leadership failed to disclose information necessary for FHWA to carry out its oversight responsibilities."
The report also takes project managers to task for making it difficult for state and federal auditors to review documents and for "close ties" between project management and the private consultants overseeing the Big Dig's construction.
The joint management team from two firms, Bechtel and Parsons Brinkerhoff, "did not maintain an independent, objective role, but rather became part of the management team committed to the zero-sum-gain budget goal of $10.8 billion," the new audit says.
Former Big Dig chief James Kerasiotes.
New Big Dig chief Andrew S. Natsios.
