Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

In the near future, I will reintroduce Senate Bill 871 of last session. In 2015, PennDOT entered into a contract with an out-of-state company to reconstruct the Mt. Rose Interchange at Exit 18 along Interstate 83 in York County. The project completion date was set for 2018 however it was not officially complete until 2022. 
   
The project had been subject to cost overruns and constant delays and was extraordinarily past due.  
   
The Commonwealth’s procurement code requires PennDOT to award contracts to the “lowest responsible bidder.” While this entity was in fact the lowest bidder, the parent company has a well-documented history of “change order scheming” where the company adds on costs to infrastructure projects over the duration of the construction timeline.  
   
Several stories have been written highlighting this pattern of behavior.  
   
You can read examples of this occurring in other states here, here and here.  
   
My legislation is simple: It would require the agency in charge of evaluating bids to take into consideration well-documented instances of “change order scheming.” While I understand the need to reduce costs, sometimes the true cost of a project will far exceed the initial bid through these deceptive practices. Furthermore, this practice leads to years of delay, frustrating the people of Pennsylvania even more.  
   
I hope you will join me in cosponsoring this important measure to ensure the Mt. Rose Interchange debacle never happens again in our Commonwealth.  
 

Previous cosponsors include Senators Vogel, Farry, Brown, Boscola, Rothman, and Dush.