Two recent audits by Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Inspector General Helen Lew and independent auditor CliftonLarsonAllen both concluded that Metro failed to follow federal contracting rules while spending $5 million of federal stimulus funds. Specifically, Metro staff used stimulus money to award a no-bid contract worth $14 million to the McLean-based company Metaformers after telling Metro board members that the work would be competitively bid.

This was not just an innocent blunder or another example of Metro management’s legendary incompetence. This was an act of deception intended to mislead both the feds and the transit agency’s own governing board. The fact that Lew’s report concluded that Metro “may not have selected the contractor offering the ‘best value’ ” is a slap in the face to Metro riders who just got socked with another fare increase back in July.