The Maryland State Highway Administration conspired with various firms to hide millions of dollars in both cost overruns and unspent funds even while gaining state approval for millions of dollars in more funding, according to a recent report. The Office of Legislative Audits found that highway officials cooperated with vendors to shuffle at least $11.3 million from 10 construction inspection contracts to hide overspending and to use funds for other contracts unrelated to what the money was approved for. Some funds may have even been diverted to other agencies under the Department of Transportation.
Contracts with millions of dollars in unspent funds were extended multiple times without approval by the state Board of Public Works, though highway officials couldn’t justify their requests for millions of dollars more in funding, the audit found. And the board approved $10 million in new contract funding in November 2009 while highway officials sat on $36.4 million in unspent funds from existing contracts – information that was withheld from the board.
