The region needs transportation agencies with the professional capacity to plan, design, and construct state-of¬-the-art transportation improvements.  Staff at MassHighway, the MBTA, EOTPW, and other state agencies should be experts in and advocates for innovative, multi-modal transportation projects.  A culture of problem-solving will help to create more responsive solutions to transportation challenges and will build public confidence in transportation agencies.  

Over recent years, the professional capacity of many transportation agencies have been depleted by staff cuts.  For example, MassHighway staff declined by 45% from 1990 to 2006.  Outsourcing has shifted some of the responsibilities and costs of project planning and design to private firms.  Staff reductions in and of themselves are not necessarily bad, but the overall capacity of the agency appears to have declined.  A 2003 Federal Highway Administration report found that staffing levels in 2001 were “well below the minimum needed to fulfill the necessary construction and materials testing functions of the statewide construction program,” and that “there are a significant number of personnel who lack the necessary training and qualifications to perform inspection, sampling, and testing of construction materials.”

Furthermore, the cost of contracting for technical and professional services may exceed cost of in-house staff, especially considering the time and staff costs associated with procurement and contracting.  Private engineering firms are also more likely to bring an engineering-driven, mode-specific focus to project design, with less consideration for the community context and broader public policy principles.  Through persistent outsourcing, agencies lose their ability to sustain a creative, solution-oriented professional culture. 

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