Warning on Big Dig funds
US officials may hold up $81m pending probe of errors
Top US transportation officials this week warned Governor Mitt Romney that release of $81 million in federal funding for the Big Dig would be held up unless state officials act quickly to investigate the number, cause, and repair costs of hundreds of leaks that riddle the Interstate 93 tunnel.
Romney, who yesterday filed a bill asking the Legislature to create a five-member commission to investigate the leaks and seek refunds for the state for construction problems, told reporters that he received that warning during a meeting in Washington on Wednesday with Kenneth M. Mead, US Department of Transportation inspector general.
''It is very much in our interest to get to the bottom of these leaks as quickly as possible," to prevent any delay in funding, Romney said. ''They made it very clear that at a time when they don't know the extent of the cost of the leaks and who is going to be responsible they are not ready to release the funds," he said.
In addition to the leak investigation, Romney said, Mead wants the state to take a far more aggressive approach to obtaining refunds for mistakes by contractors on the project. The governor said Mead described the state's cost-recovery efforts so far as ''anemic." The state has been relying on a panel headed by retired judge Edward M. Ginsburg, but so far the group has obtained only $3.5 million in refunds for the state.
Under Romney's plan, a new commission would include state Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, state Auditor Joseph DeNucci and state comptroller Martin J. Benison, or their designees, plus two members appointed by the governor, each to serve three-year terms. The commission, which would be funded by the Turnpike Authority, would have the power to hire special counsel, engineers, and other staff, and would be required to submit reports to the Legislature and the governor.
Mead yesterday declined through a spokesman to be interviewed. But his spokesman, David Barnes, confirmed that the inspector general ''would have difficulty approving the finance plan at this point because there is not enough information available about project costs, schedule, and risk."
''I am encouraged by Governor Romney's proposal," Mead said in a written statement. ''It is quite specific and would create an independent commission to expeditiously determine the parties responsible for these leaks. It is also important to have a robust and effective cost recovery effort, not just for the leak repairs, but also for other costs involving errors and omissions."
The comments put additional pressure on the Legislature to take action on the governor's bill.
The Big Dig, currently estimated to cost $14.6 billion, is billions of dollars over budget and years past scheduled completion. Angry over the cost escalations, Congress in 2001 capped the federal contribution to the project at $8.5 billion and made annual payments contingent on the Department of Transportation's approval of annual financial plans submitted by the Turnpike Authority.
It is the $81 million included in the project's 2004 financial plan to pay contractors and meet other expenses that Mead may withhold.
The commission Romney is seeking to establish requires legislative approval in order to give it subpoena power and to give the governor and Legislature some measure of management over the Big Dig, which since 1996 has been under the control of the Turnpike Authority.
The prospects for Romney's plan appeared uncertain yesterday, with one leading legislator clearly unhappy that he had learned about the proposal in newspapers rather than from the governor directly.
Representative Joseph F. Wagner, co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation, met with Romney's legal counsel to discuss cost recovery after seeing details of Romney's plan in yesterday's Globe and Boston Herald. Wagner said he felt Romney was more interested in getting favorable headlines than crafting a consensus among administration officials and legislators.
Wagner agreed that a new approach is needed, but said he favored legislation to create a special prosecutor, plus a greater role for Reilly.
In a written statement, Reilly said he needs time to study Romney's proposal. ''However, I do have significant concerns about this approach and have expressed those concerns to the Governor's office," he said. ''I have also been in touch with Legislative leadership and the Transportation and Post Audit Committees and will continue to work with them to determine the best direction to take. In the end, it is vital that the Commonwealth start speaking with one voice on this issue."
State Senator Marc R. Pacheco, Democrat of Taunton, yesterday criticized Romney for failing until now to take steps. ''Obviously, the governor hasn't done all he can on this issue," he said.
Turnpike chairman Matthew J. Amorello, who in January 2003 appointed Ginsburg, said yesterday he is open to new approaches.
''The issues of cost recovery are complicated and they need to be addressed and are being addressed, and if there are other mechanisms or ideas put forward in cost recovery we're certainly willing and able to work with those initiatives as they come out of the Legislature and through the administration," Amorello said.
Although they have obtained little money back for the state so far, Ginsburg and his lawyers have brought 11 lawsuits against Big Dig design or management firms, including one for $150 million that accuses Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff of failing to disclose financial data.
Amorello had his own meeting with Mead last week, and said he told Mead that the Turnpike would have an audit conducted to determine how much the leak repairs will cost, using the consulting firm Deloitte & Touche.
''The inspector general and I talked about the audit [that] needed to be done and that they wouldn't be funding any additional costs on the project for any leak repair or waterproofing efforts," he said of the meeting last Friday. ''And the finance plan would be approved when we had an audit and we expect to have the audit done . . . sometime in the middle of April."
''This isn't unusual," he said. ''We've had these requirements, I think, in the last three years I've been involved with the Turnpike Authority." 