ORLANDO, Fla. – It's been more than a month since problems first began with the SunPass system and customers are still wondering when they'll start seeing charges on their accounts.
In an attempt to get answers, News 6 investigator Adrianna Iwasinski sat down with Rep. Bob Cortes, who serves as the vice chair on the House Transportation Committee.
Below is a transcript of their Q&A session.
What is your reaction to the Florida Department of Transportation increasing the amount of Conduent’s state contract from $244 million to $344 million?
On the legislative side, we are required to fund all programs of the state (of Florida). Our latest budget was over $12 billion for all the transportation issues. The individual contracts are handled through the agencies, and FDOT falls under the governor. Because of the separation of powers, the Legislature cannot infringe into what the governor and the agencies do. But that being said, we are about accountability. So the Legislature wants to make sure public tax dollars are being spent wisely and we will be asking those questions.
We are now in Day 36. Is this acceptable?
We have been asking the same question. FDOT has sent the vendor a 10-day notice; 10 business days, and the 10 days expires on July 12. Transactions are being posted at a rate of about 2-4 million transactions a day. The website was down between Tuesday and Wednesday; we did confirm that. There were some issues with the browser compatibility. They have now fixed that. They say they are making the effort to post them in a timely manner. We are going to hold them up to that.
You talked with FDOT today, who did you talk to? What was discussed?
We talked to government relations at FDOT and we were asking the same questions as you. Are transactions being posted? Did they just roll out one quick batch and then stop? She confirmed they are posting transactions, it's just such a huge number – and it's eventually going to increase. I also asked about the website being down. She did confirm that there was a downtime between Tuesday and Wednesday to fix the compatibility issue on the browser. I’m being told next week we should be receiving daily updates with a press release from FDOT to keep us up to date on what the progress is.
FDOT said it was going to impose penalty and fees on Conduent? Have you received any confirmation?
No penalties have been imposed yet. We are still going to be looking into the contract, which the 10 days expires next Thursday, so the letter is being followed as to what the secretary (Mike Dew) has sent, and the whole idea is we will hold them accountable.
Does it concern you that FDOT picked this vendor, Conduent, even though Conduent has documented problems and issues reported in other states?
I don’t know the process on the procurement, but it does concern me. I’ve seen the same issues in New York and Texas and other places with this vendor. I am told these are procurement processes that were completely vetted as they do with any other contract. Sometimes they don’t work out. The key is we will be looking in the Transportation Committee moving forward to make sure these contracts are awarded properly as we assign the funding.
Because of what is happening right now, the contractor is not being paid; money is being withheld from FDOT. FDOT is not paying the contractor until the product is working and fixed. We in the Legislature will hold them all accountable.
Can the state contract be pulled from Conduent?
Absolutely. All the contracts in the state of Florida have written agreements that can be pulled based on performance and the metrics that are required to be followed. There’s always another vendor that can be picked to continue the process or to continue with another product. Obviously that’s extreme. The expectation when you pick the vendor is that they are going to deliver the product that you paid for. Unfortunately that doesn’t work out that way all the time.
Who all have you heard from during this SunPass delay?
Basically constituents who use the system that are concerned. They are concerned that money will come out all at once and that they are going to be double billed. We have seen in the past the vendor has had issues with double billing in other states. They have valid concerns.
You’ve also heard from a former Conduent employee who has sent a list of some of claims and concerns while working there?
Yes, we have submitted that documentation up to our staff and to the staff of Public Integrity and Ethics for them to review and see if it warrants to go further.