Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Ben Allen speaks out against $72 million building. Old PEER report criticized DFA handling of new construction

Ben Allen wrote on his blog Jackson Now! (which yours truly created) a column opposing the proposed construction of a $72 million building for the Department of Revenue on Lakeland Drive near Ridgewood Road:

"Unbelievably, on Friday, week before last, at 3:37 P.M., our development community was made aware that by noon of the next day, March 26th, a $50,000,000, $250/construction foot, 190,000 (almost FIVE football fields under roof) square foot brand new building, along with a parking and footprint of 9 football fields, was headed for approval by the state legislature, and planned for location in the pristine wooded area on Lakeland Drive and Ridgewood Road, by the R and D Center.

What was unbelievable about this, was during that same week, intense negotiations were transpiring with local private property owners and the state (and its appropriate departments), with the hope of saving the state millions of dollars, and using private tax paying property for the purpose of relocating the Department of Revenue's offices. Several locations in the city, county and downtown were being considered.

Furthermore, not a single property owner in the area, other than the developers themselves, were aware of this sweeping, sudden, non-transparent, proposed action. A group of us went to work immediately to investigate, and among many things, discovered the following:" Rest of the column

While we are discussing DFA's construction of state office buildings, here is somsething for you to read if you are really, really, really bored or have a severe case of insomnia: an old PEER report on the DFA and construction. A few choice excerpts:

"The bureau has not consistently controlled projects to ensure that they are delivered on time at the lowest possible cost. The Project Accounting and Tracking System cannot be used to measure planned versus actual construction performance due to system design deficiencies for financial and time information associated with individual construction projects. Also, the bureau compensates contractors for change orders in a manner that violates its own standard construction contract and rewards professionals for performance that unnecessarily increases project costs."

and this one:

"The Department of Finance and Administration’s Bureau of Building has not
managed the construction projects at the Underwood Complex and the Archives
and History, Sillers, and Woolfolk buildings in a manner that best protects the state’s interest. The bureau’s actions have contributed to additional costs of approximately $10.8 million for change orders (an amount that could have been reduced with improved oversight), including $192,690 for contracts for personal services (i.e., janitorial and groundskeeping) that should have been provided through DFA’s operations budget. These costs added approximately $6 million in debt service for the state. Also, the bureau has not consistently controlled projects to ensure that they are delivered on time at the lowest possible cost."

Click here for report

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great column by Ben. Great information.

The more information that comes out, the "worser and worser".

That our state building procedure is " archaic" is a nice way of putting it. It's a means to dole out political favors and everyone in the construction industry and legal profession that is competent would like to see it made into a level playing field!

Anonymous said...

Contract management is a HUGE money pit for the state, and not just building contracts. Procurement of new technical systems costs agencies huge amounts of money every year because agency personnel put in charge of accpeting deliverables tend to be (or believe themselves to be) subject matter experts but NOT technology-oriented.

I would LOVE to see a review of change orders by state agencies on contracts for $5 million or more -- get someone with project management expertise to see how often the state loses money because the people put in charge of a contract are actually clueless and sign off on deliverables that don't actually work.

I know of one agency who, in the '90's, spent several million dollars on an information management system where one of the office attorneys demanded to be put in charge of the project. Problem were that a) the attorney never planned to use the system and b) the attorney had no technological background or understanding. That attorney signed off on deliverables without having staff test them -- as a result, the system sucked. Five years and several hundred thousand dollars in useless staff training later, that agency competely scrapped the system and issued a completely new RFP for a system with TWICE the budget the first one had.

I know this is a thread about wasteful spending on construction, but it's all part of the same problem -- over and over the state is willing to put people who have NO IDEA what they are doing in charge of multi-million dollar projects it ends up costing us millions.

Anonymous said...

There's been a rumor floating around state government for a while that the new building ITS just got had to have MAJOR changes funded because the agency signed off on designs that failed to include required ADA accommodations, like disability-accessible restrooms and such. Anyone know if this is true?

Anonymous said...

What 9:07 reports has happened several times at UMMC, with your tax dollars.

Anderson said...

"What 9:07 reports has happened several times at UMMC, with your tax dollars."

I believe that UMMC's resort is to claim that they are spending their own money they made, not tax dollars. They must have some agile accountants.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know how to actually google and then read State budget reports, with comprehension, and see what UMC actually receives from the State every year? If so, do you really think they have financed and built all the new building with State general fund appropriations? Tax dollars are not funding their growth.


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If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

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