"T board criticized for secret talks on $280m deal" by Nicole Dungca Globe Staff December 17, 2016
When the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s oversight board this week approved a nearly $280 million no-bid contract to buy new Red Line cars from a Chinese company, it marked the first time the massive deal with the group had been discussed publicly.
The company, China Railway Rolling Stock Corp., had been negotiating with the MBTA for eight months, but wasn’t mentioned by name on the agenda that announced Monday’s meeting. Months before, MBTA officials had publicly discussed the possible purchase of a batch of new Red Line cars, but refused to say whether they would purchase them from the company.
Behind the scenes, board members had been briefed on some aspects of the deal, which was an addition to a $566 million subway car contract from 2014. They met privately last week to discuss the potential legal risks, according to MBTA officials. On Monday, the board approved an agreement for up to 134 cars after half an hour of public discussion.
Critics are raising questions about two aspects of the multimillion-dollar contract, saying that the board sidestepped the customary competitive bidding process and that its private discussions may have violated the state’s open meeting law.
“The presumption of the law is that meetings are open to the public, and I think there are a lot of public bodies that operate on the opposite presumption,” said Robert J. Ambrogi, a lawyer and executive director of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association.
MBTA officials said the closed meeting was justified under an exemption in the open meeting law that allows public agencies to discuss litigation strategy, even if a lawsuit has not been filed.
In September, MBTA officials told the fiscal and management control board they were considering the purchase of new Red Line cars, but had not disclosed they would award the contract to the Chinese company, which is already building a separate batch of MBTA subway cars for $566 million. MBTA officials now say they had been in negotiations, which are generally behind closed doors.
MBTA officials also defended the decision to bypass the competitive bidding process, saying the contract takes advantage of a good price and accelerates a process crucial to improving service. Buying all its cars from the same company was the only way to ensure a standardized fleet, they said.
“The MBTA determined that a competitive procurement would be futile and did not contact other potential sources or advertise the procurement of the Red Line No. 3 fleet,” William Wolfgang, the agency’s director of vehicle engineering, and Gerald Polcari, its chief procurement officer, wrote in an internal document.
Stephanie Pollack, the state’s transportation secretary, said the decision to award a contract without a bid justified the closed-door talks.
“The litigation risk is that another manufacturer says, ‘Hey, you should have done a regular procurement,’ ” she said. “We’re not aware of anyone who is saying that they are going to sue,” she added.
But open government advocates said the MBTA’s interpretation of the litigation exemption is too broad, since the possibility of lawsuits nearly always exists.
“Everyone says, ‘I’m going to say sue you,’ ” said Peter Caruso, an attorney who specializes in media law. “If we took that at face value, then everything would be secret in government.” Caruso and others said agencies should have some evidence of impending litigation to claim the exemption.
Critics also said that the MBTA’s reasoning appears to contradict an advisory from the state attorney general’s office, which enforces the open meetings law....
They claim the threat of litigation justified closed meetings.
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Related:
Chinese company building new MBTA trains keeps on rolling
US urged to probe Chinese company building MBTA subway cars
Also see:
Green Line
Orange Line
Globe will take you on a tour.
UPDATE:
Business group could help subsidize MBTA hiring, recruiting
You $ee who is really running Bo$ton, no?
