CONNECTICUT NEWS

Audit Blasts Contractors

May 19, 2007
By EDMUND H. MAHONY, The Hartford Courant

"However, the Department of Transportation bears responsibility for completion of the overall project in a satisfactory manner and it is clear to me that a change in the way business is done at the DOT is required. Oversight means exactly that - and it is clear to me that it was absent."

The transportation department paid the now defunct L.G. DeFelice construction company about $52 million to build the redesigned, 3.5 mile stretch of I-84 in Waterbury and Cheshire. The state paid The Maguire Group, a private consulting engineer, another $6 million to inspect the DeFelice work.

The audit by J.R. Knowles/Hill International concluded that DeFelice did millions of dollars of work incorrectly or not at all, that Maguire failed to inspect the work or ignored incorrect work and that the state paid for the work "without following proper procedures including field verification and signoffs."

Part of the lapse in inspection, according to the audit, resulted from an angry altercation between Maguire's resident engineer, the senior private contractor on the I-84 job site and the DeFelice construction superintendent. Following the dispute, the resident engineer was stripped of field oversight duties and replaced by a Maguire chief engineer, who the audit contends was unqualified.

"The resulting condition removed the resident engineer from his quality assurance role over the chief inspector and allowed for the lapses both in the field inspection and in the reporting and documentation of the project," the audit says.

The widespread problems with the project have led to an investigation by the FBI and demands by federal highway regulators that the state move quickly to prepare a plan to respond to any potential hazards.

Although transportation officials have said nothing to indicate that there is any immediate hazard, the Federal Highway Administration is concerned that failures in the highway drainage system may be creating underground washouts that could lead to road collapses.

While placing most of the blame for the problems on the contractors, Rell said the audit also shows a "cultural failure" by the transportation department because it "did not anticipate or expect that deficient work of this magnitude by the contracting and inspection firms could even occur."

The audit confirms one fact that has been known for months: that the redesigned roadway's drainage system is a nearly complete failure. Other experts have estimated the state may have to pay anywhere from $20 million to $30 million to correct the drainage failures alone.

In addition to the FBI investigation, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is looking into the project. "This audit reveals outrageous and far-reaching failures at every level in the I-84 expansion project," he said Friday.

"This audit must also be Exhibit A for immediate and intensive reform at the Department of Transportation to fill a vast void of oversight and scrutiny," Blumenthal said.

State Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams, D-Brooklyn, and state Sen. Donald J. DeFronzo, D-New Britain, applauded previous promises by Rell to overhaul the transportation department, but they said the newly released audit is an argument against privatizing the inspection of state public works projects.

"This report confirms serious problems with privatizing core governmental functions such as protecting the safety of the public. DOT and the contractors to whom the work was privatized failed miserably," Williams said.

Rell, who last month called for a "top-to-bottom" reorganization of the department, called Friday for a number of additional steps, including closer scrutiny of bids and projected costs on highway projects. She also called on DOT Commissioner Ralph J. Carpenter to take action against any workers who have performed inadequately on the I-84 project.

Contact Edmund H. Mahony at emahony@courant.com.

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