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Purple Line: Time for Governor Hogan to Step Up to the Plate

Statement issued September 17, 2020

The Purple Line public-private partnership (P3) has imploded and what will happen next is unclear. It appears the state will keep some construction going, but will spend the next 30 days deciding how much. It looks like the state will then take 4-6 months to consider how to finish the project. The state is likely to consider four options.

1. Settle with the P3 contractor. (The probability seems remote.)
2. Take over supervision of the construction contracts and finish the project.
3. Procure a new P3 contractor.
4. Some combination of the above.

ACT believes it is vital that the state keep the current construction contractors working. Suspending construction would scar adjacent communities across Montgomery and Prince Georges County. Weeks of delay would turn into months. Months would turn into years. During this long period of zero progress the construction cost meter would continue to tick away.

With this background in mind, ACT believes the way forward must include the following:

1. Governor Hogan must step up to the plate, take responsibility, and make a public commitment to keep project moving.
2. The state must devote necessary resources to keep construction moving ahead without cutting current transit service. Critical path activities should not be delayed.
3. The Purple Line should be completed as a state project. The P3 model has been tried and failed. A new P3 contract could not even pretend to offer the claimed advantages of the model (incentivizing the project designer to optimize the design for long-term efficiency). Drawing up a new P3 contract & running a competitive procurement would cause unacceptable delay.

ACT has worked for 34 years to get the Purple Line built. We have gone through moments far worse than this. Now is not the time to slow down our progress.