‘It’s a matter of urgency:’ How PennDot is using emergency contracting rules to rebuild the I-95 bridge

Gov. Josh Shapiro announced this week that the state will be contracting with Buckley & Co., a Philadelphia-based construction firm, to rebuild the I-95 bridge that collapsed last Sunday.

But this is no ordinary government contract.

A day after a fuel tanker truck crashed under the bridge and set off the fire that destroyed it, Shapiro signed an emergency declaration that has allowed the state to take extraordinary steps to get the work done quickly. There will be no cost limits, projected timeline, or public paper trail for at least the first phase of demolition and construction, state officials said.

The state’s agreement with Buckley and two other firms — C. Abbonizio Contractors, which demolished what was left of the old bridge, and James J. Anderson Construction Co., which will provide paving — are initially being treated as what’s known as “extra work” added to existing contracts, said Lou Belmont, PennDot’s district executive for the Philadelphia area.

Buckley’s work, for example, will at first be added to its existing contract for work on a ramp to the Betsy Ross Bridge. Later, the state will sign a formal contract with Buckley.

The initial agreements were not competitively bid, and Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll said the Buckley deal is “open-ended,” meaning it has no fixed cost. The federal government is expected to pick up the tab for the entire project, Shapiro has said.

Shapiro announced Saturday that the initial work to reopen I-95 will be complete within two weeks. But the state has not set deadlines for the work, as it would have for a regular contract.

“It’s a matter of urgency,” Belmont said. “We need to do everything we can to get the road back open as quickly as possibly.”

Government procurement experts say these types of deals are necessary when there is work that needs to be done quickly to accomplish a major public interest, such as reopening I-95. But no-bid emergency contracting can also come with potential pitfalls, such as a lack of cost controls.

Usually, government agencies are required to follow strict procurement processes before signing contracts.

First, they issue a request for proposals or bids with specifications on the work that needs to be done. Then they evaluate and score those bids based on cost, the methods the firms propose to do the project, the track record of the bidders, and other factors.

Some agencies, including PennDot for many projects, are required to select the lowest bidder that meets the minimum requirements.

In this case, the state had a free hand to bypass many of those rules thanks to Shapiro’s disaster declaration.

“As supported by law, emergency situations warrant immediate action,” said Alexis Campbell, a spokesperson for Carroll. “With justification provided by the Governor’s Proclamation of Disaster Emergency, demolition and inspection work commenced immediately. The repair methodology announced [Wednesday] by the Governor and PennDot, which offers an innovative and expeditious approach, was developed in the past several days.”

The emergency declaration not only allowed the state to green-light the immediate work on the site of the collapsed bridge, but will also allow it to sign a no-bid contract with Buckley without going through the usual procurement process. PennDot declined to give a timeline for when the contract would be approved.

Belmont said it was crucial for the state to immediately select Buckley as the vendor for the entire project, which will involve two phases, so that the firm can begin designing and acquiring materials for the long-term rebuilding of the bridge.

The first phase, which is underway, will see a temporary six-lane roadway built over a mound of glass aggregate fill, allowing traffic to reopen within two weeks, Shapiro said. Then, a permanent reconstruction of the full eight-lane bridge and the Cottman Avenue exit will take place around the temporary road.

One of the factors that could delay the completion of the second phase, Belmont said, is the fabrication of steel beams that need to be designed specifically for the project. By notifying Buckley now that they will receive the contract for the permanent bridge replacement, the firm can begin that process immediately, he said.

In typical government projects, agencies and contractors agree to a price for the work, and it is the contractors’ responsibility to make sure it stays within budget.

(Theoretically, that means the companies, and not the taxpayers, are on the hook for overruns. But frequently, the costs of projects grow over time through mutually agreed-upon contract amendments, with either the company citing unexpected circumstances that drove up costs or the government expanding the scope of projects.)

For at least the initial work on the I-95 project, there is no budget, and Buckley will be paid directly for its costs, Belmont said.

“You’re paying the contractor for personnel [and] equipment by the hour basically,” he said. “The equipment that they have, the materials that they are using — all of this stuff that they’re doing is going to be documented.”

To ensure the open-ended nature does not lead to waste, PennDot is closely monitoring the work, Belmont said.

“We have construction inspectors out on the job basically documenting everything that’s being done,” he said. “We have construction management firms ensuring the approach is valid, and [they’re] not just piling on hours without any meaning to it.”

One downside of the state’s approach is that there is so far no public documentation of PennDot’s agreement with Buckley and the other firms. Because the initial phase of work is being treated simply as “extra work” for other projects, it is not even being documented through amendments to those contracts, which would be published, Belmont said.

That will change when the state signs a full agreement with Buckley.

“Contracts for the permanent reconstruction will be fully executed and available on the Treasury website when a comprehensive plan in the best interests of the Commonwealth is finalized,” Campbell said.