Silver Spring Transit Center--Who Pays for Private Sector Screw Ups?

"That's a rhetorical question, right?" my husband asked when he saw today's blog title.  Yes it is.  But more on that in a second.  Let's start with introductions.

The still incomplete Silver Spring Transit Center is a concrete eyesore for many MOCO residents.  As far as transit centers go, though, this one isn't half bad.  The double decker bus platform doesn't just have a functional design--that second level meets people at the level they come off the train--it is also open air, so it doesn't look brutalist in the way concrete behemoths often do.   

At the end of the day, though, the transit center's aesthetics aren't the real problem.  The concrete that was used to build the structure started cracking during construction.  Further tests revealed weaknesses in the integrity of the concrete--not a good result for a structure designed to withstand daily bus traffic.   

Ever since, there's been a looming question--who is to blame?  The general contractors who built the project (Foulger-Pratt), the engineers who designed its implementation (Parsons Brinckerhoff), the County that assembled the team, or the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which approved the plans?  Two reports on the center's problems haven't helped shed light on the process. 

Answering this question is important because assigning blame will go a long way towards determining who pays for the fix.  

In that regard, it was troubling to see that the County will likely cover the upfront costs of the fixes.  It also appears that the County's strategy for recouping costs is to go to court.  As a report in yesterday's Washington Post noted, "although they expect the expense to ultimately be borne by contractors, they may have to put up the money and attempt to recover it through litigation, a process that could take years."

At the very least, you hope MOCO decides to refuse any future business with these two companies while the court system figures out who is to blame.  Unfortunately, if the shady game of government contracting is any indicator, these two companies will be first in line at the MOCO trough for future contracts.  And, it isn't a foregone conclusion they'll be sent away.  

The drawing of the transit station above can be found on MOCO's website for the project.