Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission board calls for more open, competitive services bids in future

The governing board of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the five member Commission, passed a resolution at their regular bimonthly meeting this week apparently requiring staff to open up professional services contract work for competition. This is intended to address one common criticism of the Turnpike: that it has a cosy - some say plainly 'corrupt' - relationship with a small bunch of favored companies, and there are surreptitious pay-to-play deals.

The resolution moved by Allen Biehler the new Turnpike chairman and state secretary of transportation was passed unanimously, a Turnpike spokesman says.

The 2-page resolution says the Commission intends to create a pool of qualified people and firms from which specialized services will be solicited as needed.

The resolution authorizes the chief executive officer consulting with the chief counsel and chief financial officer to produce requests for qualifications, invitations to qualify and proposals for inclusion in the pools.

These must gain final approval of the chairman, the resolution says.

The new selection process is to cover:

- legal services

- bond counsel

- tax and financial advice

- investment banking

- bond underwriting

- bond trustees

- investment advice

- business development consulting

- real estate services

- property management

Exclusions

Exluded from the list are:

- permitting and design work

- general engineering services

- traffic and revenue studies

Asked why they are excluded a spokesman Carl de Febo told us they have always been done and will cotinue to be done by a request for proposals process.

The resolution requires the CEO to keep the Commission informed and makes the final selection of firms for the professional services pools subject to the approval of the Commission.

Biehler came on in May

Allen Biehler took over as chairman in May. At that time the incumbent chairman Mitchell Rubin was fired after being named as a target of a US Justice Department corruption investigation.

Rubin was a close associate of former state senate ways and means committee chair Vincent Fumo now serving a five year jail sentence after a conviction for racketeering that involved theft of many millions of dollars. Rubin's wife Ruth Arnao was charged and convicted along with Fumo and is also serving a jail sentence on scores of counts of thievery.

"Step in right direction but..."

A source who has closely watched the Turnpike Commission for a number of years tells us he thinks the resolution is a welcome recognition of past malpractice and a move in the right direction. But he says: "It is only as good as its implementation. We have yet to see the rules, the selection process, and whether it is real open and fair competition, or just a show."

Most professional services at the Pennsylvania Turnpike have never been competitively bid, the firms being simply selected, and fees negotiated. This includes highly lucrative bond counsel and underwriting work on hundreds of millions of dollars in borrowings.

In recent years Dilworth Paxson in Philadelphia and Cohen & Grigsby in Pittsburgh have shared much of the work on a negotiated basis.  The first is regarded as a Democrat connected firm, the second Republican.

see the copy of the resolution:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/ProfServicesRsltn.pdf

TOLLROADSnews 2009-12-04