No Justice, No Peace (No Bids)
Posted by Chap at 6/11/2007 8:53 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
As the readers of the Post and the various blogs have witnessed over the past week, the curtain seems to be closing on the "Tysons Tunnel" alternative. And nobody's happy.
I stated my opinion on this issue in a post in February. http://app.onlinequickblog.com/EditEntry.aspx?id=367014
Since the time I made that statement, I've stood by it and answered every question in a similar fashion. I stand by it today.
Before laying blame on the various parties, I think it's worth contemplating a significant culprit in all this -- the Public Private Transportation Act of 1995.
The way that the Act is written right now accepts (actually encourages) "no bid" contracts like Dulles Rail which are exempt from normal government oversight. That means that the financial aspects of the contract are kept secret from the public, even though there tax dollars represent the "public" part of the deal.
There was a time when these initiatives were welcomed as a free-market solution to large public projects.
The problem is that now Fairfax County and Fairfax County taxpayers are held hostage to an enormous contract, projected at perhaps $5 billion (currently), to build the Dulles Rail. What amount is actual cost? What amount is profit? Is there a cheaper vendor to do this?
All these questions are still unanswered. They may never be answered.
Our taxpayers deserve better than this. The simple rule should be that the state should require open bidding and full disclosure on proposed contracts for constructing large public facilities
And that's a piece of legislation I plan to bring in 2008.
I stated my opinion on this issue in a post in February. http://app.onlinequickblog.com/EditEntry.aspx?id=367014
Since the time I made that statement, I've stood by it and answered every question in a similar fashion. I stand by it today.
Before laying blame on the various parties, I think it's worth contemplating a significant culprit in all this -- the Public Private Transportation Act of 1995.
The way that the Act is written right now accepts (actually encourages) "no bid" contracts like Dulles Rail which are exempt from normal government oversight. That means that the financial aspects of the contract are kept secret from the public, even though there tax dollars represent the "public" part of the deal.
There was a time when these initiatives were welcomed as a free-market solution to large public projects.
The problem is that now Fairfax County and Fairfax County taxpayers are held hostage to an enormous contract, projected at perhaps $5 billion (currently), to build the Dulles Rail. What amount is actual cost? What amount is profit? Is there a cheaper vendor to do this?
All these questions are still unanswered. They may never be answered.
Our taxpayers deserve better than this. The simple rule should be that the state should require open bidding and full disclosure on proposed contracts for constructing large public facilities
And that's a piece of legislation I plan to bring in 2008.
Actually, they did make the contract details public. http://www.mwaa.com/dulles/about_dulles_international_2/about_dulles_international/dulles_corridor_proposal/p1contract
Thanks to you for pointing that out and to MWAA for making it public. If I'm not mistaken, this was in reaction to the County Board's demand last week -- it's not required by the law (which is my original point). According to the June 6th press release, there are several redactions in the documents to protect confidential pricing info, etc. So I'm not sure how useful this will be but I appreciate your pointing it out and, again, props to MWAA for making this voluntary disclosure.
There was a time in the past when the VA. Dep't of Highways (as it was then known) was the envy of state transportation agencies far and wide. Many innovative practices were first tried or improved upon right here in VA (the reflectors on Afton Mt. or the grooves cut into concrete road surfaces to channel away rain water, for example). Practically every project, good or service was put out for bid and the bids were open and very public. Young men and women from Va. Tech, V.M.I, N.C. State and other prestigious universities actively sought out entry level positions and kept a steady supply of new ideas flowing. Perhaps we should be striving to get back to that point, when politics played little to no role in the way most state-wide agencies ran and delivered services.