Re: The insane progress nobody is talking about

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On 6/28/2024 12:20 PM, Garrett Wollman wrote:

In article <nult7jlrj1697gnkmo2dmhhd8tmr2utfra@4ax.com>,
Paul S Person  <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
 

Perhaps a thorough audit focused on where the money is going (ie, how
many brothers-in-law of various officials are getting the contracts)
would help.

 There are only two or three contractors bidding on most capital
projects, because they are so high-value and simultaneously both over-
and under-specified, such that only the largest contractors can
perform them.  If anyone's brother-in-law is getting the business, it
would be a sub-sub-contractor, not the prime.  (There's a weird thing
in state procurement law that requires the prime contractor to sub out
lots of business from a list of qualified subs provided by the state,
so that's not as implausible as it sounds.)
 -GAWollman
 

Slightly Off topic, but if Boston transport and infra structure is
of interest, WGBH recently did a really good, in depth podcast series
about how the Big Dig got built, Starting with stopping the Boston
Artery from being much much worse.
The politics, both local and Federal are covered, as well as the
actual construction. I found it very meaty listening.
https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-big-dig
Interestingly, their end message is that it may now be impossible
to do more such projects, due to the amount of public reviews,
environmental impact statements, etc.
pt