Madison — Calling it a “one-way ticket to government waste,” State Senator Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) blasted a bill that would end the requirement for cost-benefit analyses for Department of Transportation projects.
Lassa was one of the initial supporters of the requirement that the cost-benefit analyses be performed for projects of more than $25,000 that are considered for outside private consultants and contractors, and worked to strengthen state government contracting laws to ensure quality of work and savings of taxpayers’ money. Assembly Bill 522, which is scheduled for a public hearing in the Assembly tomorrow, would eliminate that requirement for DOT contracts.
“I think it’s strange that while the Governor is trumpeting his Fraud, Waste and Abuse Commission, this bill would actually make it easier to waste taxpayer dollars,” Lassa said. “State audits have shown that the runaway privatization of highway projects is costing taxpayers millions and has resulted in reduced quality in some instances. The only purpose of the cost-benefit analyses is to protect taxpayers. We need to make the process stronger, not eliminate it.”
Lassa pointed to a 2009 Legislative Audit Bureau study of Department of Transportation contractor use which showed that in nearly 60 percent of cost analyses, in-house staff could perform work less expensively than outside consultants. A 2008 open records request by Sen. Lassa’s office revealed that the DOT had the equivalent of 950-1000 full-time equivalent positions that are filled by consultants.
“In 2009 the State Engineering Association analyzed 362 state highway project worksheets and found that the estimated cost for using engineering contractors was $5 million higher than using in-house staff,” Lassa said. “As legislators we are stewards of taxpayers’ money. If the cost-benefit analysis requirement is eliminated, the legislature is giving the green light to waste and inefficiency. Taxpayers can’t afford that. We need to make sure that we are using every dime of taxpayer money as efficiently and effectively as possible, and that requires that we continue to look carefully at the way the state spends money on private contractors and consultants. Unless this legislation is meant to be a stimulus bill for private contractors at the expense of taxpayers, AB 522 is a wrongheaded effort that will result in massive waste on state highway projects, and it needs to be defeated.”
