Consultant costs and contracts are among the issues that will be dealt with
in an ongoing audit of the state Department of Transportation now under way by
the Legislative Audit Council. But that audit won't be finished for some months.
The DOT commission shouldn't wait for answers on the costly contracts that have
been cited in stories by The Greenville News.
The News reported that contracts worth $256 million for 72 roads and bridges
projects were awarded to consultants rather than have DOT's engineers do the
work in house. DOT Executive Director Elizabeth Mabry told the newspaper that
the money was well spent and described the program under which they were awarded
as a model for other agencies nationwide. An official for one of the two firms
in question said the contracts saved the state $122 million in design and
construction costs.
But the News estimated that hiring the additional engineers needed to do the
work would have cost the state $168 million, or $88 million less than what the
state spent on the contracts.
And B.K. Jones, a former executive director of the DOT, described the fees as
"outrageous," in comments quoted by the News. "Given the old school that I came
through, I cannot fathom how you can rationalize spending that amount of money
for what the end product is," he said.
Meanwhile, several state senators, including the chairman of its
Transportation Committee, are talking about a separate probe of the DOT's
consultant contracts and costs.
The highway commission should take the initiative and require agency's
administrators to provide detailed information about the contracts and determine
whether they were justified. Not all of the commissioners were serving when the
contracts were awarded.
The highway commission generally has supported the DOT's executive director,
despite the criticisms of chairman Tee Hooper, who was appointed the governor.
Mr. Hooper raised questions about the administration of DOT and its policies
that were considered serious enough by the Legislature to call for a
comprehensive audit.
The commission meets today, but no discussion of the consultant contracts had
been scheduled as of Wednesday. The commission should take the opportunity to
review the criticism and get some answers from its employees.
