Topic:
APPOINTMENT TO OFFICE; EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE NOMS. COMMITTEE; EXECUTIVE AGENCIES; LEGISLATION; PUBLIC WORKS;
Location:
EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE;

OLR Research Report


February 13, 2007

  

2007-R-0156

QUESTIONS FOR NOMINEE AS COMMISSIONER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

By: Kristin Sullivan, Associate Analyst

Department of Public Works Commissioner (CGS § 4b-1)

• The commissioner serves at the pleasure of the governor with a term that ends on the March 1 following the next gubernatorial election. Either house of the General Assembly confirms.

• The commissioner is responsible for: administering most state capital improvement construction and planning projects; selecting consultants to assist on such projects; the purchase, sale, lease, sublease, and acquisition of property and space for state agencies; the sale or exchange of surplus state property; maintaining a complete and current inventory of all state-owned or leased property and premises, including space-utilization data; supervising the care and control and administering the security for most state buildings and grounds; providing technical advice and services to state agencies planning to improve their physical space; and cooperating with others to develop a capital program and budget for the state.

Questions

1. What are the most important changes you have made at the Department of Public Works (DPW) since becoming commissioner? What other initiatives are you planning?

2. What are your agency's top legislative priorities this session?

3. How many construction projects is the department currently involved in? What is the status of these projects?

4. What proportion of bids does DPW reject even though they are the lowest and why?

5. To what extent should the state have jurisdiction over municipal public works projects?

6. One of your statutory responsibilities is to maintain a complete and current inventory of all state-owned property. Each year the state conveys land through legislation. This legislation stipulates that the conveyed property reverts back to the state if the recipient does not use it for the stated purpose. Do you, for this reason, keep track of conveyed property and how easy or difficult is this?

7. Your Annual Report to the State Properties Review Board for Fiscal Year 2006 indicates that the value of formal construction contract awards more than doubled between FY 05 and FY 06 from about $ 150,000,000 to about $ 350,000,000. Why?

8. The governor and legislators have said that Connecticut should develop strategies to promote the expansion of companies already doing business in the state as well as those considering relocating here. Various bills introduced over the last several sessions proposed requiring the DPW commissioner to give in-state contractors a preference, usually 5%. In your view, would such a policy facilitate the above-stated goal?

9. Public Act 04-245 requires state and quasi-public agencies to get written documentation that the process for awarding a large state contract did not involve collusion or gift giving. What are your thoughts on this requirement? Has it affected the pool of contractors?

10. Governor Rell issued Executive Order No. 7 in June 2005 after vetoing PA 05-286, An Act Concerning Reform of the State Contracting Process. She also vetoed PA 06-1, virtually the same bill. While the public acts created a State Contracting Standards Board just as the Executive Order does, they went a step further by abolishing the State Properties Review Board and transferring its responsibilities to the newly created board. Under Executive Order No. 7, both boards are active. Are their duties and responsibilities completely separate or do they overlap? What is DPW's contact, if any, with the newly created board?

11. A proposed bill this session, HB 6243, would require DPW and the Office of Policy and Management to (1) inventory all state agencies' owned and leased surface parking lots in Hartford's capital district and (2) conduct an assessment of future need for the lots. After doing so the bill would allow DPW to construct parking, retail, and residential complexes for the purpose of community and economic development. Any such construction project would be 100% funded under a state grant in lieu of taxes for the first five years. What are your thoughts?

KS: ts