Special Public-Private Partnership
Infrastructure Oversight Commission
May 29, 2013, 2:00 p.m.
MassDOT Boardroom, 3rd floor
Ten Park Plaza
Boston, MA 02116
Meeting Minutes
Members:
Commission Chairman Alan Macdonald, Valerie Mosley, John Olver, Joseph
Durant, John Vitagliano, David Luberoff
Present:
Chairman Macdonald, Commissioner Olver, Commissioner Durant,
Commissioner Vitagliano and Commissioner Luberoff
Quorum Present:
Yes
Other Participants:
Secretary Richard Davey, Quentin Palfrey, Dana Levenson, Owen Kane
Others Present:
Paula Fallon
PROCEEDINGS:
Call to Order by Chairman Macdonald
Chairman Macdonald called the meeting to order at 2:10 p.m.
I.
PROCEDURAL ITEMS
The meeting began with recognition of the guests and department staff. Chairman Macdonald
announced Owen Kane as Counsel to the Commission, Quentin Palfrey, Senior Counsel to the Secretary
for Policy and Operation and Dana Levenson, MassDOT’s Chief Financial Officer.
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Next item C was introductory statements from each of the Commission Members. Chairman Macdonald
began discussing his past and background. The Chairman is a current member of the MassDOT Board of
Directors. He was the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable working with them
for 23 years. He also chaired the Transportation Advisory Commission and he is also Chairman of the
Standing Committee on Finance and Audit.
Commissioner Olver was a member of the U.S. House of Representative from 1991 to January 2013. He
was a Ranking Member, House Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development;
recognized leader in advocating for innovative transportation infrastructure projects, including the John
W. Olver Transit Center, Greenfield.
Commissioner Durant is the President of the Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Science,
professional employee union that represents 3,400 technical, engineering and scientific employees of 39
agencies of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He has a master’s degree in Environmental
Engineering from Northeastern. He worked at Environmental Protection for 32 years. The Commissioner
went through some examples of Public Private Partnerships across the country.
Commissioner Vitagliano is a Principal at Seagull Consulting. He was a former MassPort Board Member
and former City of Boston Transportation Commissioner. He would the Commission to work on
balancing transportation.
Commissioner Luberoff is the Senior Project Advisor to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study’s
Boston Area Research Initiative; Executive Director of Harvard’s Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston,
2004-2012. He does work around transportation related issues and he looks forward to working on the
Commission.
Chairman Macdonald acknowledged that Commissioner Mosley and Commissioner Strunkin were
unable to make the meeting.
Next Quentin Palfrey swore in the members of the Commission.
Chairman Macdonald went over the Mission of the Public Private Partnership Commission. The mission
of the Massachusetts Public-Private Partnership Oversight Commission is to facilitate the formation of
public-private partnerships for transportation projects and services within the Commonwealth, where
appropriate, and to raise the awareness of government and business stakeholders of the means by
which their cooperation can cost effectively provide the public with much-needed transportation
services and facilities. This includes working with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation in
the development, facilitation and promotion of the use of innovative financing, design-build, and other
public-private partnership tools, to encourage the broadest acceptance of the use of PPPs. Chairman
Macdonald noted that they won’t as a Commission vote yes or no but they will make recommendations
on proposals.
Chairman Macdonald briefly discussed the By-Laws and added that they will discuss them in more detail
later.
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Next the Owen Kane briefed the Commission on the Ethics Commission’s Rules and Regulations, the
Open Meeting Law and the Public Records Law.
Next Dana Levenson went over MassDOT and MBTA as financial entities giving the Commission an idea
of the challenges of transportation in the Commonwealth. Revenues at MassDOT was $793 million
FY13, there was $350 million from the tolls that were collected which pays debt service. In FY13 the net
restricted revenue was $48 million which can only be spent on the toll roads and not used for operating
expenses. Revenue at the MBTA is roughly $1.8 billion, the fare box is around $537 million, and the debt
service is $425 million. The MBTA will net a small number of $12 million which will go back into the
capital reserve considering the $5.4 billion debt the MBTA currently holds. He introduced KPMG adding
they are here to help the Commission with looking at the different projects. There was discussion with
the Commission on the distinction between the different departments in MassDOT and as well as
discussion on MBTA’s debt.
Next Secretary Davey thanked the Commissioners for serving. He went over the history of the creation
of the Public Private Partnership back in the 2009 Transportation Legislation. The Commission was
created to help figure out ways to appropriately finance infrastructure projects in the Commonwealth
and add value. The Commission will also help think of ways where we can strategically invest to the
benefit of the Commonwealth and our citizens. MassDOT over the last 18 months has been reaching out
to the public to find out what they hope and expect from transportation. They heard loud and clear from
the customers, legislature and the Governor that once and for all they will deliver a plan that will right
the finances of MassDOT and make strategic investments for now and our future. People want more of
our services but we can afford or deliver it. The PPP is another option where we can figure out how to
invest into our system. There is a need to make a significant investment in our current system. Fixing
transportation through a finance package is a goal that we need to achieve. The PPP was created on the
MassDOT’s behalf to look for additional ways we could finance projects across the State.
Next Tim Wilschetz and Thomas Mulvihill from KPMG gave a presentation. They discussed what a Public
Private Partnership (PPP) is. They want to be clear with the Commission on what works and what
doesn’t work in certain areas of the PPP’s. The PPP is defined in the 2009 legislation as “a contract
between a private entity and the Department that relates to the development, financing, maintenance
or operation of a transportation facility.” They discussed the benefits and considerations of using PPP’s,
giving examples by asset class, delivery of PPP’s and the next steps along with other State’s experiences
with PPP’s. Next they discussed PPP’s in the market. They discussed the road PPP’s and highlighted ones
the Commission would be interested in.
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Next Quentin Palfrey discussed ways MassDOT staff can assist the Commission as they go forward. He
would like the Commission to look at areas that the Governor and MassDOT Board listed as high
priorities such as the South Station Expansion or even finding some smaller projects. He added that with
the expertise of the Commission they will be able to come in and figure out what best fits into the
structure that is envisioned. The last piece is that with the creation of the Commission it opens up
discussion with the business community to show that we are open to all ideas that may not have been
listed already. He noted that there are experiences out there that have worked and that haven’t but we
can provide a strong scrutiny and filter out the ones that don’t work.
Chairman Macdonald ended the meeting discussing the meeting schedule. The Commission decided to
meet about once a month. They also discussed breaking up into sub-committees to be able to have
more time to get further into detail on some of the projects. The Commission would like to see esamples
of PPP’s that were successful and ones that didn’t work out.
On motion duly made and seconded, it was unanimously;
VOTED: To adjourn.
II. Adjourn.
Documents
Mission Statement
DOT Enabling Act
By Laws
The Way Forward: A 21st – Century Transportation Plan
KPMG Introduction to PPP’s Presentation
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