Letters to the Editor
'Second Ave.' Cheats Public

To the Editor:

In January, New York City Transit announced its plans to hire consultants to provide the construction administration services for Phase One of the 2nd Avenue Subway Project. The scope of work and project overview have already been issued and a Request For Proposal (RFP) is in process. May 2007 is the anticipated contract award date.

As of today, the total budget for the project is $3.838 billion. Although the engineering estimate has not been made available to the public, a conservative estimate, based on the usual practices at NYC Transit, would be 10 percent for construction management. Therefore, the total cost for construction management services would be $383.8 million, or $51 million a year based on a projected duration of 85 months.

Compare this with the $88 million average annual cost for Construction Administration Services at NYC Transit. Its 1,100 unionized engineers, architects and scientists earn an average salary of $60,000 plus benefits (worth at most about $20,000 annually).

$51 million would pay for more than 600 new unionized engineers and architects at Transit. Of course, there is no need for 600 employees. In fact, by hiring fewer than 100 new employees, the entire construction phase of the 2nd Avenue Project could be done by in-house staff and, as experience has shown, be done better, safer, cheaper, and with much more accountability. The cost of 100 employees would be $8 million. This would amount to a $43-million savings annually, which over a period of seven years would add up to more than $300 million total savings. Such a savings of public money when the job is done in-house!

Some of these savings could be used to keep the employees on board for many decades to come. They would use their know-how on the expansion projects, then work on keeping the system in good repair. This system needs knowledgeable experts and honest public servants. Public transportation in New York has more than 100 years of history, and there will be hundreds more to come.

By farming this project out, NYC Transit is denying itself the opportunity to create a cadre of experienced and knowledgeable workers familiar with the transit system. Ultimately, this will harm and weaken the public institution's structure and is not in the public interest.

Jonathan Cohn, the author, describes privatization as running amok and writes "the rank of public officials necessary to supervise contractors have been so thinned ... Agencies have been left with the worst of both worlds - demoralized and disorganized public officials and unaccountable private ..."

It is imperative that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reconsider its decision and keep the job in-house. We call on the MTA to meet with the union to devise a plan that will be beneficial to the public and meet the needs of the agency. Our union is confident that it has the experience, knowledge and willingness to jointly create a comprehensive plan.

BEHROUZ FATHI, NYC Transit Chapter, Civil Service Technical Guild