TRENTON — New Jersey Transportation Commissioner James Simpson today said he wouldn’t shift some bridge inspections from private contractors to in-house, even if it would save the state money. “Even if I knew that on paper I could do it cheaper — a bridge inspection in-house — I wouldn’t do it,” Simpson told Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman John Wisniewski...
James Simpson, N.J. Transportation Secretary, in this January photo. TRENTON — New Jersey Transportation Commissioner James Simpson today said he wouldn’t shift some bridge inspections from private contractors to in-house, even if it would save the state money.
“Even if I knew that on paper I could do it cheaper — a bridge inspection in-house — I wouldn’t do it,” Simpson told Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex). “Because the management and performance appraisal process in this state is broken.”
Wisniewski, who was hosting a hearing on the July report from Gov. Chris Christie’s task force that recommended privatizing certain transportation services, had referenced a report saying the state would actually save money if it used its own employees for bridge inspections currently conducted by private companies.
Simpson said his department’s personnel regulations are a “labyrinth” that make it difficult to move employees to the roles they would perform best in. He also said the evaluation process for employees is too vague and flawed.
The Department of Transportation conducts about 1,300 bridge inspections each year, spokesman James Dee said. State employees do about 28 percent of them, while private contractors are responsible for the others.
The average in-house cost for inspections is $2,800 while it costs the state $3,800 when private contractors do it. But Dee said the state would need to hire more inspectors and purchase more equipment if it was to handle most of them in-hous, costing more than the state more than it would save.
“What you’ve told me is you can’t manage the people who are overseeing the infrastructure,” said Wisniewski.
Simpson said the problem was with the system, not the employees. For instance, the department can only evaluate employees on a pass-fail basis, with nothing in between.
“There’s no incentive to work real hard,” he said.
Previous coverage:
• N.J. Democrats criticize Christie administration report suggesting privatization
• Christie administration recommends massive privatization of N.J. services
• N.J. government watchdogs say privatization can still lead to waste, abuse
• Privatization panel to begin hearings tomorrow under tight deadline for report