BOSTON – A new report by Massachusetts Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro issued two findings of in a review of the selection of dispatch a services vendor for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) Transit Police Department. Shapiro says that significant concerns of both “whether or not the selection process was fair” and “potential bias in favor of IXP in the evaluation process” was discovered in the evaluation
The contract was awarded to IXP Corporation for $965,024 per year for three years with two option years.
The first finding of the inspector general’s report says that the MBTA did not complete all of its internal procedures for advertising and soliciting response to the request for proposal in 2017. The second finding says the MBTA did not complete or could not provide relevant records related to its evaluation of IXP’s response to the request for proposal.
Those processes the MBTA fell short no include requirements to complete the required independent cost analysis, demonstrating that there was adequate competition, and seeking an adequate number of sources through methods like advertising in trade publications
The inspector general also found that “Communications between the Transit Police and IXP raise significant concerns of potential bias in favor of IXP in the evaluation process.” On July 10, 2017, two days before IXP submitted its proposal, an IXP employee emailed on a member of the selection committee. That was seven days after the stated deadline for submittal of clarifications. By the terms of the request for proposal, this communication should have resulted in IXP’s proposal being disqualified.
Two members of the 2016 selection committee communicated with IXP employees on ten separate occasions months after the 2016 request for proposal was cancelled. The report says, “those communications reflect the Transit Police’s desire to hire IXP specifically and raise significant questions regarding the objectivity of the 2017 evaluation process.”
The request for proposal was first issued in 2016. Three companies, including IXP, responded. The request was reissued with modified requirements in 2017, when IXP was the only respondent. According to the report, officials at the MBTA could provide no evidence the other two respondents in 2016 were contacted when the request was reissued in 2017.
The MBTA does not follow the same procurement processes as state agencies. Instead, the MBTA has its own procurement criteria. The review by the inspector general’s office used the MBTA’s criteria as the measure of fair and competitive procurement.
The MBTA did not complete the required independent cost analysis when evaluating only one vendor for a contract, according to the report. It also did not id not demonstrate that there was adequate competition and did not seek an adequate number of sources through methods like advertising in trade publications, as required.
The full Office of Inspector General Review of the MBTAs Police Dispatch Services Contract with IXP Corporation is available here.
