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New governor, same old T? Inspector General finds rampant MBTA mismanagement of contracts with private vendors
Um, looks like Gov. Maura Healey has a bit more work to do when it comes to whipping the perpetually bumbling and scandal plagued MBTA into shape.
Millions of taxpayer dollars are likely circling the drain at the MBTA thanks to shoddy business practices that wouldn’t pass muster at the local convenience store, let alone at a billion dollar operation.
That’s our read on a new report by a top state government watchdog on the T’s ‘“management” - if it can be called that - of a contract for a customer service call center with Exela Technologies, Inc.
The T’s performance was nothing short of abysmal, Inspector General Jeffrey S. Shapiro tells Contrarian Boston.
The transit authority failed to collect $42,500 in penalties owed by Exela, and it compounded matters by erroneously doling out $30,000 in “misapplied incentives,” according to the report the IG released on Thursday.
And don’t even ask about the $185,000 paid to a quality assurance vendor to oversee the deal, which turned out to be more money down the drain.
Yet here’s the kicker: The T knew the Inspector General’s review of the Exela contract was coming - it was included as part of the oversight process. But even then the T still couldn’t muster the will or basic management wherewithal to address what could be fairly called glaring issues.
“The MBTA was given the opportunity to do a take home exam and they brought no book to the take home exam,” Shapiro said in an interview with Contrarian Boston. “They knew in advance we were going to do a stem to stern review.”
Shapiro’s office has found similar T management breakdowns involving contracts with other outside vendors.
And he questions what other problems may be lurking out there with the hundreds of other contracts the T has with various companies, for everything from railroad ties to engineering services.
That said, Shapiro declined to put a dollar figure on the amount of money the T is surely flushing down the drain with its failure to follow even the most basic of business practices.
Contrarian Boston reached out to the T’s press office, but did not hear back by our deadline.
“It’s a billion dollar enterprise … and they can’t do basic business functions that you would need if you were managing a convenience store,” Shapiro said.
The IG’s report comes on the heels of a criminal investigation into shenanigans by a group of T employees working at the Cabot Yard maintenance yard.
The MBTA has fired six employees, while seven remain on administrative leave amid allegations that employees were working on their own vehicles at the maintenance facility while they were on the clock. There are also allegations of overtime abuse, WCVB has reported.
Charlie Chieppo, a Pioneer Institute senior fellow and principal of Chieppo Strategies, said Cabot Yard allegations and the IG’s report on the T’s faulty business management practices are signs of deep dysfunction at the agency that goes back decades.
However, Phillip Eng, a veteran New York transit executive who took over as the T’s GM in the spring of 2023, has been a bright spot and is clearly trying to move the authority in the right direction.
The fact that the T fired the workers in question - as opposed to suspensions or forcing them to take a leave of absence, as was common in the past - is a good sign, he said.
“I did see a little bit of a silver lining in the Cabot Yard thing,” Chieppo told Contrarian Boston. “You have to hold people accountable.”
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