Oppose Allowing SFMTA to Skirt the Rules When Entering Contracts

SFMTA Must Follow City Rules and Best Practices for Vision Zero Contracts

The situation:

Supervisor Chan has introduced an ordinance allowing SFMTA to enter into and amend contracts WITHOUT adhering to our Administrative Code.

Why this should be opposed:

SFMTA has a notoriously bad track record when it comes to collecting data, project completion, and use of taxpayer money. In the name of achieving Vision Zero, taxpayers have spent tens of millions of dollars on failed projects, incomplete projects, and projects that have made our city streets less safe.

Listed in our City Administrative Code are important rules for consideration when entering into a contract such as the Environmental Code, provisions related to competitive bidding, equal benefits, local business enterprise utilization, and other requirements for construction work and professional and other services.

There is no justification for taking the guardrails off an agency that has demonstrated repeated fiscal irresponsibility and consistent failure to reach its own metrics. The potential for abuse is just too high - one can only imagine all of the unrelated projects that will suddenly be deemed part of Vision Zero.

Tell the BOS that you oppose SFMTA skirting important safeguards in the contracting process and demand that they vote down this ill-conceived, poorly-written ordinance.

Name*

First NameLast Name

Email*

example@example.com

What District do you live in?*

Subject

Message to the SFMTA Board, Mayor Breed, and Board of Supervisors:

Dear Supervisors.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;The ordinance put forth by Supervisor Chan amending the Administrative Code which would allow SFMTA to bypass important rules and best practices for entering into contracts is unconscionable. &#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;The rules set forth in the Administrative Code governing contracts include competitive bidding, the Environmental Code, equal benefits, local business enterprise utilization and other important safeguards against corruption, fraud, and waste. The provisions in the Administrative Code should not be waivable or optional; they exist to protect the taxpayer, local business, local talent and presumably the environment. &#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Amending the Administrative Code is a drastic step towards granting an incompetent agency power they should not have. SFMTA simply is not an agency that can or should be trusted to enter into contracts without oversight or rules to guide the process and ensure best practice. &#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;We are all currently feeling the consequences of unprecedented fiscal irresponsibility by our City government with a deficit that is threatening the operations of almost every department in the city.  Now is not the time to allow an agency with a  known track record for shoddy data and over-budget projects to enter into contracts with no accountability and fewer protections to the process. &#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;This ordinance’s built in expiration date of 3 years provides little comfort to taxpayers as SFMTA has a habit of making things that are “temporary” permanent.  It would be better not to go down this path of AMENDING a code then to try to re-establish it in the future. Once SFMTA can ignore all sensible elements to negotiating and entering into a contract it is safe to say it will remain that way indefinitely.  &#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;The failure of SFMTA to achieve its Vision Zero goals has less to do with streamlining a contract process and everything to do with their poor planning, lack of interest in community feedback, and little understanding of the city streets and how they are used.  Vision Zero requires more than knee-jerk reactions and piecemeal projects, and until competence and data replaces ideology and fiction, no amount of streamlining any process will bring us closer to achieving safer streets or the goals of vision zero.  &#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;I urge you to abandon this ordinance and require SFMTA to continue to respect and adhere to the very necessary protections in our Administrative Code. Taxpayers, small businesses, and local workers can no longer bear the brunt of SFMTA’s unproductive and community damaging projects. &#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;

Add me to the list for updates on this issue.