Audit of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation - Millbury Roadway Reconstruction and Related Work (Contract 86774)

This is a State Auditor performance audit of a MassDOT roadway reconstruction and bridge replacement project in Millbury, covering work from September 3, 2015 through June 30, 2020.

“This report details the audit objectives, scope, methodology, findings, and recommendations for the audit period, September 3, 2015 through June 30, 2020.”

Auditors checked whether the project finished on time, whether extra work was approved properly, whether police detail payments were supported, and whether commodity price adjustments were handled correctly.

“In this performance audit, we determined whether MassDOT’s Project 605964, under Contract 86774, for roadway reconstruction (including bridge replacement) in Millbury was substantially completed1 in the budgeted timeframe, whether extra work orders were properly approved, whether payments for police details for traffic control were properly supported, and whether price adjustments for commodities were properly calculated and processed.”

If MassDOT records do not match the police invoices, the agency cannot be sure it paid the right amount for police traffic details.

“As a result, MassDOT cannot be certain it paid the correct amount in police detail costs related to this project.”

For ordinary residents, this audit is about whether public transportation money was tracked carefully on a local road and bridge project.

“Part of the project (85.7%) was financed by the Commonwealth, 11.8% by the federal government, and 2.5% by the town of Millbury.”

Most areas tested passed, but the audit found one police detail payment where invoices showed 24 more hours than MassDOT field reports, creating a possible $1,200 overpayment.

“The police invoices that corresponded to the CQE for this payment showed 24 more hours worked than the FIRs for the same dates, causing a possible overpayment of $1,200.”

The Auditor recommended that MassDOT require resident engineers to formally match police invoices against field inspection reports, and MassDOT said it was updating its procedures.

“MassDOT should develop and implement a formal policy requiring its resident engineer to reconcile all police department invoices for police details to the FIRs that correspond to each CQE.”

This was not a small paperwork review; it involved a major construction contract with an original bid price of more than $20 million.

“The original bid price of the contract was $20,444,070.”

A contract quantity estimate, or CQE, is the document MassDOT uses to record work completed and payments owed to the contractor.

“As construction takes place, MassDOT’s resident engineer maintains records of the amount of work completed at a given interval (usually two weeks) and prepares a document called a contract quantity estimate (CQE)3 at the end of each interval.”