The job of inspecting, maintaining and operating the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge soon will be given to a private contractor, another step in Virginia’s expansion of outsourcing for work once done in-house.
The twin spans that carry the Capital Beltway over the Potomac River are maintained jointly by Virginia and Maryland transportation departments. Officials are jobbing out responsibilities that include everything from picking up debris and graffiti removal to opening the bridge for passing ships, said Ronaldo “Nick” Nicholson, Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project manager.
The shift comes as the Virginia Department of Transportation is steadily increasing its reliance on private contractors, while it sheds hundreds of jobs from its payroll and closes facilities across the state.
The department, working to close a $4.6 billion shortfall over the next six years, has been moving to reduce its staffing to 7,500 full-time workers by this summer. In January, it issued the latest round of 678 layoff notices.
Nearly three-quarters of VDOT’s expenditures are now spent externally, either through private-sector vendors or transfer payments to localities, acting VDOT Commissioner Gregory Whirley wrote in a letter to Gov. Bob McDonnell and state lawmakers. That figure exceeded the agency’s goal of 70 percent, according to Whirley.
Virginia plans to award the Wilson Bridge contract to Hazleton, Pa., company Dbi Services, officials announced in a March 26 notice. The contract will run for five years, with two two-year renewal periods.
The agreement also will call for the contractor to take on emergency response roles, including severe weather, hazardous-materials spills, terrorist attacks “and any other even or crisis for which the department determines a need for immediate action,” according to the original bidding documents.
The first span of the new Wilson Bridge opened in 2006, and the second in 2008. The final phase of the project, rebuilding the Telegraph Road interchange with Interstate 95, is slated to be complete in 2013.
