Letters to the Editor/OpEds

Demolish Red Tape

Newsday, June 26, 2018

Newsday’s call for comprehensive reform of how the MTA manages its capital budgets (6/26/18 – Demolish Red Tape) is heartily endorsed by the contractors that build the MTA’s projects.  Improvements at the front end, with better project scoping, comprehensive pre-bid design review, value engineering, and development of accurate budgets and schedules, will solve a multitude of ingrained problems and significantly reduce the plague of change orders. Contrary to popular belief, a contractor’s best project is one with few changes, enabling the contractor to hold to its original work plan and schedule.  Reducing change orders, along with their cost and schedule impacts, will go a long way go a long way toward achieving the shared goal of reducing the costs of the MTA’s much-needed capital program.