MBTA to cancel Green Line contracts, eyes restructuring project management team

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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Ben Schumin

Following a joint meeting of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Board of Directors and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB), MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola notified several firms working on the Green Line Extension project that the MBTA is acting to end their current contracts.

 

The FMCB is also planning to restructure the MBTA’s GLX project management team and is taking other actions, which will include appointing a new interim project manager.

The moves follow a meeting at which the boards met to consider options for the project. Both boards had been earlier briefed on a Look Back review that identified flaws in the implementation of the construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC) project delivery method. That review also found that unrealistic schedule demands drove decision-making and costs. The FMCB directed DePaola to notify the MBTA’s CM/GC (White-Skanska-Kiewit), the MBTA’s project manager/construction manager (HDR/Gilbane), the MBTA’s independent cost estimator (Stanton Constructability Services) and the MBTA’s final designer (AECOM/HNTB) of the decision.

The decision marks the start of a transitional period, during which no new construction work will be awarded. During this time, however, much of the construction work that is already under contract and in progress will continue.

The GLX project, as currently designed, will significantly exceed previous budget estimates. FMCB believes that if the GLX project is to be built, the MBTA must reduce the cost of the remainder of the project by aggressively adjusting its design, accurately determine a budget, determine the best means to procure and deliver the design and construction of the project and ensure sufficient funding by engaging multiple funding sources.

“Today’s actions are necessary steps to resolving the future of the GLX project,” said FMCB Chairman Joseph Aiello.

“The Look Back report has brought clarity to two important factors in this decision: first, the CM/GC project delivery method was not successfully implemented and, second, that we need a complete reassessment of the project’s design, scope and cost,” said DePaola.

The current CM/GC project delivery method has proven to be impracticable to complete a redesigned and affordable GLX project, MBTA says. The current CM/GC contract and the statute that created this project delivery system combine to render the current process unworkable. Accordingly, MBTA says the FMCB needed to recommend the full break from CM/GC and the associated contracts for this project.

FMCB has also directed that it must approve all GLX contracts and actions, regardless of value, over the next 90 days, as the MBTA moves forward with cost reduction, accurate budgeting and reprocurement efforts.

 

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