Category Archives: state auditor

New Report. 4 Recommendations for High Speed Rial in the Golden State.

The State Auditor made the following recommendations about high speed rail project:

  • establish formal prerequisites for beginning construction
  • Prioritize contract management
  • more clearly differentiate between the construction and operation phases of the high-speed rail system
  • review of its compliance with its existing quality controls related to ensuring the validity and completeness of contractor-reported data.

State Auditor of California | Caliofrnia High Speed Rail Auhtority

High Speed Rail Audit in California. Biggest Cost Driver?

Not acquiring land prior to beginning construction is cited as the largest cost driver according to an audit of California’s High Speed Rail project.

Rushed construction contributed to $600 million in cost overruns in a single segment of the high spped project. 

What happens if the project fails to accelerate the project? It will be forced to repay up to $3.5 billion to the federal government

Sacramento Bee | Rushed construction cost high-speed rail $600 million and delays mount, audit finds

…

3 Points Informed Intel. State Auditor Report. TXDOT. Design Build Contracts. Bonjour Procurement.

  • Procurement & monitoring was all good, Standardizing the contracts is not.
  • Standardizing design build contracts will “foster uniformity and potential efficiency”
  • 11 specific issues were identifiied linked to the lack of TXDOT uniformity in contracts:
    • addenda to the requests for qualifications and RFPs were not always approved
    • review of qualification statements and proposals did not always include completing individual scoring worksheets
    • no evidence of past performance of a…