Union representing state transportation engineers, inspectors, and planners move agency officials to come clean on millions in contracts awarded to outside consultants over the past four years

HARTFORD—Members of the Union representing the Connecticut Department of Transportation's (DOT) professional engineers, inspectors, and planners are reacting to a new accounting of the state's bridge safety inspection services. This week the DOT revealed it had spent over $50 million for outside consultants to examine highway and rail bridges over the past four years, more than twice the cost for agency staff to perform these inspections.

"I don't think anyone would disagree that inspecting bridges is about public safety," said Bob Rinker, Executive Director of CSEA/SEIU 2001, which represents the DOT's professional workforce. "Connecticut has seen its share of tragedies involving bridge collapses. That's why I wrote to the State Contracting Standards Board (SCSB) to request a formal opinion on whether bridge inspections are a 'core governmental function.' The reality is that outsourcing inspections to private consultants is not the way to ensure the safety of the traveling public," Rinker continued.

In March, CSEA/SEIU Local 2001 requested the DOT provide a cost-benefit analysis of a contract for outside consultants to inspect bridges on the Metro-North (MTA) rail line. Agency lawyers refused, which lead to the Union's request in May for the SCSB to exercise its oversight authority under the state's landmark "clean contracting" law passed in 2007. For the department to reveal it is outsourcing inspection services that impact public safety to private consultant firms at twice the cost of its own staff is nothing short of shocking.

"Why are we allowing the outsourcing of public safety, especially if it's not even saving taxpayers money?" asked Denise Easton, a transportation engineer who coordinates DOT's oversight of municipal construction and inspection projects along the state's busy I-95 corridor. "I find it ironic that during this campaign season, some candidates are pushing for more outsourcing. But if taxpayers are paying twice as much when these services could be provided with greater accountability by professional bridge safety inspectors, that's not efficiency. It's simply outrageous," said Eaton, a Steward in CSEA/SEIU Local 2001.

The Union proposes redirecting the approximately $13 million in annual cost savings that could be achieved by ending the DOT's over-reliance on outside consultants for bridge safety inspections into infrastructure investment. According to a recent internal agency report, 10 percent of the state's 5,300 bridges were rated as structurally deficient and ranked in poor condition. A bridge over State Route 63 in Naugatuck that collapsed in June and seriously injured a worker was ranked in the poor category.

CSEA/SEIU Local 2001 represents nearly 25,000 active and retired public sector workers across Connecticut. The union's membership includes approximately 1,000 engineers, inspectors, planners, and other professionals working in the state's transportation department. Visit www.seiu2001.org online for more information about its members' efforts to protect the public interest by holding state agencies and private consultants accountable under Connecticut's "clean contracting" law.


July 28 DOT Response to the State Contracting Standards Board

 May 19 CSEA Request to the State Contracting Standards Board to Review Bridge Inspections