The MBTA overpaid a Tennessee-based firm by greater than $5.3 million to outsource in-station customer support brokers and didn’t set clear targets to trace their efficiency, Massachusetts’ high authorities watchdog present in a brand new report.
A evaluation from Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro discovered though the MBTA saved cash through the use of the corporate, Block by Block, as a substitute of utilizing state staff as “transit ambassadors,” the overpayments arose as a result of the company didn’t account for particular occasions. The research additionally discovered the T paid Block by Block staff larger hourly wages than the contract known as for.
The so-called ambassadors are the workers sometimes wearing pink shirts that assist riders get round, report upkeep and cleansing wants, and assist guarantee the security and safety of stations.
The company additionally succeeded in increasing the variety of hours and stations lined by customer support brokers.
But a five-year contract between the MBTA and Block by Block lacked a approach to observe efficiency metrics, a key element of the settlement, and didn’t embody penalties for non-performance.
Shapiro stated that made it “impossible” to find out the standard of the corporate’s companies or whether or not the contract, which ran from July 2017 to September 2022, was profitable in making stations extra accessible.
In a letter to state transportation officers, Shapiro stated contracts ought to embody particular efficiency metrics to clarify the extent of service the seller is anticipated to offer. Those metrics must also be coupled with unbiased audits, periodic opinions, and “secret shoppers.”
“The MBTA employed none of these common tools, so it was difficult to assess if the contract met the goal of improving service. For example, the MBTA did not even attempt to ascertain how Block by Block transit ambassadors were conducting and reporting elevator checks,” Shapiro wrote within the letter. “This simple and seemingly small detail has a potentially huge impact on MBTA riders, particularly those with disabilities.”
At a Thursday morning MBTA board of administrators assembly, General Manager Phillip Eng stated the company has already taken steps to enhance procurement processes and the administration of distributors.
“We look forward to continuing to work with the [Inspector General’s Office] in the issues identified in the report. It’s extremely important to folks that know that we are taking this very seriously,” Eng stated.
In a follow-up assertion, MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo the company is “committed to delivering high-quality customer service while ensuring thorough oversight and fiscal responsibility.”
“We have already taken steps to improve the procurement process and contract management issues identified in this report,” Pesaturo stated.
Block by Block President Blair McBride directed questions in regards to the contract to the MBTA.
“We’re proud to have helped thousands of MBTA customers through the transit ambassador program,” McBride stated in a short assertion to the Herald.
The contract exceeded its anticipated price by almost $5.37 million, Shapiro’s report stated, with a majority of the overage a results of the MBTA’s “failure” to account for particular service requests to cowl occasions like Red Sox video games or concert events.
“Once it was understood that special service requests resulted in increased costs, the MBTA should have planned for this in subsequent contract periods,” the report stated. “Only once in five years did the MBTA factor in special event coverage when determining the ‘not-to-exceed’ cost, even though professional sporting events and concerts are planned well in advance and publicly announced.”
The transit company additionally paid larger hourly charges than what was specified within the contract, in accordance with the report.
Shapiro stated he was shocked to study that an company the dimensions of the MBTA would renegotiate charge modifications exterior of the contract “and not memorialize those changes in a written contract amendment.”
The resolution to extend hourly charges presents a “significant issue for the MBTA, one that its senior leadership should address,” Shapiro stated.
A brand new contract between the MBTA and Block by Block comprises efficiency metrics and a staff on the transit company “actively reviews” Block by Block’s efficiency, in accordance with Shapiro.
“In addition, we understand that beginning next month, the MBTA is taking specific steps to improve their contract administration by assigning and documenting a contract manager for contracts over $250,000,” Shapiro wrote within the July 26 letter. “We applaud these efforts.”
In the 56-page evaluation, Shapiro really helpful enhancements in contract administration, oversight, charges, data and knowledge retention, and federal procurement.
“While privatization succeeded in saving money for the MBTA on a same-coverage-level basis, the absence of performance metrics in the MBTA’s contract hindered the [Internal Special Audit Unit’s] ability to determine the overall success or failure of its other stated goals,” the report concluded. “The MBTA must strengthen its vendor management with the new 2022 Block by Block contract and with all of its contracts systemwide.”
The evaluation is the third from Shapiro’s workplace that takes a have a look at contracts the MBTA has inked with personal corporations. Previous audits scrutinized an absence administration contract with Workpartners and a police dispatch companies settlement with IXP Corporation.
Shapiro stated all three opinions discovered comparable themes of “insufficient contract” oversight by the transit company via a “a lack of performance metrics, a failure to abide by all terms of the contract, and poor records retention.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”