6 events in Passaic County with a date

Decision on major contract for Route 17 project shrouded in mystery

By: Colleen Wilson
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... After HNTB Corporation earned the highest score on a bid to perform engineering services on a complex and lucrative contract for the long-awaited Route 17 widening project in several Bergen County towns, the Department of Transportation announced the firm won the aware in March. [2025]
..... However, within an hour, the awaree was switched to Michael Baker International, the second highest scorer, according to the DOT's procurement website. Details explaining the change in award have been minimal and attempts by NorthJersey.com to understand what - if anything - agency officials discussed behind the scenes have been thwarted by the DOT, despite multiple request suing the state Open Public Records act process.
..... In addition, the agency has offered minimal explanation and documents explaining why the agency went with a lower-scoring firm.
..... Stephen Schapiro, a DOT spokesman, said the publication of HNTB as the winner was an error.
..... "The selection memo listed the firms that were statistically tied in alphabetical order with boxes next to each name," he told NorthJersey.com . "the box would be checked to indicate the firm that was selected."
..... "The person posting the selection Online misread the memo and erroneously listed HNTB as the winner," Schapiro said.
..... "The selection memo has been updated to list only the firm being selected to avoid any confusion and print a similar error form happening in the future."
..... Schapiro said the agency met with HNTB to explain what happened.
..... Representatives from HNTB did not respond to requests for comment. Julia Covelli, a spokeswoman for Michael Baker, referred questions to DOT.
..... Securing the engineering contract for the Route 17 widening project - also known as "Route 17, Essex Street to south of Route 4: - is a prized accomplishment.
..... Ideas to solve this storied bottleneck through Maywood, Rochelle Park and Paramus - where one study found there's on average at least one crash day - have been discussed for more than two decades.
..... The construction along less than 2 miles of state highway is estimated to cost between $150 million and $200 million.
..... The work includes widening the stretch from four lanes to six, adding shoulders, replacing several structures, and improving crossings at certain intersections.
..... Construction is expected to state in fiscal year 2031, but Schapiro didn't provide an estimated end date, saying it is difficult to have an exact construction schedule.
..... This is the second big contract HNTB has lost this year . [2025] The New Jersey Turnpike Authority approved AECOM to be its go-to engineering firm last month, [10/2025] a contract held by HNTB for 77 years.

No documents on selection committee's decision

..... The state DOT provided no documents - either through public records requests or their public information office - to show how and why the selection committee voted on the Route 17 engineering services contract.
..... Producing those documents could have shown that Michael Baker was indeed the preferred firm and support the DOT's claim that the publican of HNTB as the winner was an error.
..... The only document provided showed the scoring charts of six categories and their scoring weight that Michael Baker and HNTB were evaluated on, and how each company performed. In the first round, HNTB scored 134.2 and Michael baker 133.5: in the final round, HNTB earned a 341.967 and Michael Baker a 341.833.
..... The companies AECOM and STV also submitted bid packages, but their scores fell below the threshold to be considered for the award.

HNTB worked on prior Route 17 projects

..... HNTB and Dewberry, which would have collaborated with HNTB on the disputed contract, have worked on several Route 17 projects, including a preliminary engineering alternatives analysis from 2009-2012, a concept development study the Route 17 over Central Avenue and the NYS&W Railroad spur track from 2015-2019, and a bottleneck concept development form 2022-2024, according to bid packages, obtain by NorthJersey.com through a public records request.
..... No other firm listed that level of experience on this highway in their bid documents, though Michael Baker's project manager is Cynthia Coupe who was a deputy project manager on a Route 4adn 17 interchange reconstruction project completed in 1999.
..... After Michale Baker was chosen for the widening project, it negotiated a $15.2 million contract with DOT for the preliminarily engineering work, which came in below DOT's cost estimate of 419 million.
..... Asked why Michael Baker was chosen over HNTB despite its lower score, Schapiro said, "All firms with scores within the top 5% are statistically tied and eligible for selection." This system, known as a qualification-based selection, follows guidelines from the federal Brooks Act, he said.
..... Schapiro provided a document outlining the DOT's generic selection committee guidance and various judgment factors when deciding a winning firm form a "statistically tied" group.
..... "After discussion, the (consultant selection committee) will sue their discretion and collective wisdom to select the most qualified consultant(s) for the project," the document said.
..... The selection committee chose Michael Baker unanimously, Schapiro said.
..... When asked to provide documents proving the committee's unanimous selection and why it recommended the lower-scoring firm, Schapiro said, "The documentation of the selection committee vote is considered privileged information and it is not a public document."

Records were not provided citing changes to OPRA

..... Numerous other documents were also denied and withheld by the DOT.
..... NorthJersey.com filed public information requests for:
* a list of email logs related to the Route 17 project over a two-and-a-half month period around the time the contract was awarded.
* a list of those who signed in and swiped in and out of the state's DOT headquarters in Trenton on March 26, 2025, the day the award was announced and then changed.
..... Both were denied.
..... In its explanation for the latter denial, the DOT said "key card swipe attendance reports for NJDOT employees are personnel records" and therefore exempt from public disclosure.
..... In denying the request of email logs, the DOT's OPRA custodian cited the changes in the 2024 state law that narrowed the law's language despite outcry from members of the press, residents and good government advocates.
..... Asked why the agency denied the request for email logs, Schapiro said, "Email logs are exempt under OPRA."
..... Julia Sass Rubin, an associated dean of academic programs for the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, said the degradation of transparency goes beyond the OPRA changes from 2024.
..... Murphy and the legislature also reduced the powers of the Election Law Enforcement Commission in 2023, which, among other things, weakened pay-to-play laws.
..... And now, during lame duck, there is a bill to consolidate the comptroller's office and the State Commission of Investigation, which owuld reduce the number of watchdogs on state government.
..... "We are a political machine state. Our citizens pay a corruption tax because when there is a lack of transparency and accountability it encourages, it opens the path to potential corruption and that is expensive for people,: Sass Rubin said.
..... "Our political machine to control government is bad for small "d" democracy and making it less transparent isn't inexcusable," she said.
..... No comments were provided from Governor Phil Murphy, Senate President Nicholas Scutari, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and Senate Budget Chief Paul Sarlo - who led, signed or sponsored the changes in laws to tighten public access to government records and whether they intended the OPRA law changes to exempt email logs.

Procurement questioned at several NJ agencies

..... Multiple New Jersey agencies have recently come under scrutiny for controversial procurement practices when it comes to awarding contracts to more expensive or lower-scoring bidders.
..... Most notably, the New Jersey turnpike Authority awarded a $1.7 billion contract to TransCore, even though its bid was $250 million more than the runner-up, Conduent.
..... TransCore twice scored higher on the score sheet compared to Conduent, a Newark-based competitor that has overseen the authority's E-Z Pass program for 22 years.
..... The score sheet and memo sent to board members was provided to NorthJersey.com via a public records request,. It included an explanation form the committee about why it recommended TransCore.
..... Contented protested the bid and it is now being litigated in the state appellate division.
..... The Turnpike authority also faced litigation from El Sol Contracting after it lost out on a contract to Sanzari Incorporated despite having a bid $10 million lower than Sanzari, which is the employer of Sarlo, the powerful budget chairman in the state Senate.
..... The Turnpike throw out El Sol's bid because of what El Sol described as a "minor" defect in the wording of insurance paperwork.
..... El Sol said the Turnpike accepted similar submissions from El Sol previously with no issue.
..... The state supreme Court ruled 5-2 in favor of the Turnpike in May [2025] - reversing a lower court decision that ruled in el Sol's favor.
..... The South Jersey Turnpike Authority awarded TransCore a $159 million contract in 2022 to transition several state highways to an all-electronic toll system. Transcore neared the highest score in three rounds of scoring compared to its competitor, a joint venture of Parsons Transportation Group Incorporated Neology Incorporated, but TransCored scored lower on price during those three rounds.
..... The proposed pierce from the Parsons-Neology joint venture was redacted from its bid package obtained by NorthJersey.com through a public records request and not mentioned in a memo explaining the SJTA's decision to choose TransCore even though its price was likely higher.
..... A SJTA spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
..... NJ Transit awarded Academy Express, LLC a $91 million contract to operate 14 Middlesex County bus routes in February, [2025] but that offer was rescinded in April [2025] after the agency;s chief procurement officer said there was the possibility of an "unleveled playing field."
..... In the case, qualified bidders had to score 75 or higher to advice past the p technical review in order to have cost proposals considered. None of the firms committed rounded up Academy's subsequently recommend it for the award, which was approved by the agency's board.
..... Coach USA, whose subsidiary earned the second-highest score during the technical review, protested the bid, and the the offer was canceled. A new request for proposals was issued over the summer. [2025]
..... Coach said it received a lower score because of its bankruptcy proceedings in 2024.
..... Academy, meanwhile, is paying the state a $20 million award to settle accusations it defrauded NJ Transit for years over bus service it never provided.

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