Photo illustration about the differences between E-Z Pass NJ and E-Z Pass NY. Shown in Woodland Park on Thursday April 4, 2019...E Z Pass Nj And E Z Pass Ny
A company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party was chosen last September to run the state of New Jersey's E-Z Pass operations despite bidding $250 million more than its closest competitor, according to an explosive report.
Now, lawmakers in the state are starting to wonder about the selection of TransCore, the company that won the $1.7 billion bid to run the E-Z Pass program, as the bidding process was handled behind closed doors with no public disclosure.
This was all unearthed in an investigative report by The Jersey Vindicator, and it's now starting to bring the process to a head.
The contract with TransCore, a company based in Nashville, one of the largest contracts ever awarded by the Turnpike Authority, was quietly approved in September.
Conduent, the Newark, N.J.-based company who had overseen the program for the previous 22 years, cried foul in October, highlighting that their bid was for $250 million less than TransCore.
Conduent also accused the Turnpike Authority of a lack of transparency on this new deal in an attempt to provide favorable treatment to TransCore.
New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew submitted a letter to the Turnpike Authority last month saying he was deeply troubled by this new contract.
"I am writing to express my deep concerns regarding the New Jersey Turnpike Authority's recent decision to reward the ... New Jersey E-Z Pass Services Contract to TransCore, a firm owned by Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering), which has troubling links to foreign interests, including China," Van Drew wrote. "This decision not only raises significant national security and data privacy concerns but also represents yet another alarming instance of prioritizing foreign-owned firms over American companies for critical infrastructure contracts."
TransCore responded to Van Drew's letter with one of their own, decrying the allegations of their connection to the Chinese Communist Party and saying that Conduent is running a misinformation campaign because it didn't win the contract.
“It is disappointing, though not surprising, that Conduent has focused on public fearmongering rather than on improving the quality of its products and services,” TransCore CEO Whit Hall said in a statement.
Conduent also lost a bid for license plate review services to another company - Emovis - and Conduent's big was $5.3 million lower. But they did not file a complaint about losing that bid.
The Turnpike Authority held a hearing to address the issue two months ago. However, the hearing was not open to the public and a determination based whatever information was culled at that hearing has not been rendered.
The Authority stated that despite the higher price for TransCore, that among all bidders, it scored the highest in Authority evaluations and that its services were superior to its competitors.
However, no other details were provided as to why TransCore was chosen.
Authorities, such as the Turnpike Authority, are compelled by state law to chose the lowest responsible bidder when services are put out for proposal. but there are exceptions that can be made as long as justifiable evidence is provided.
So far, none has been.
TransCore, originally an American company, was purchased by ST Engineering in 2022. The company that is the majority owner of ST Engineering, Temasek, had a board member, Fu Chengyu, who resigned in November, after the contract was won, was the group's secretary of the Communist Party of China.
Another problem with TransCore is that it employed the daughter of Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, who used to chair the Turnpike Authoirty board and was the state transportation commissioner before becoming chief of staff for Gov. Phil Murphy. She retired last July. However, Gutierrez-Scaccetti's daughter was not employed by TransCore at the time the contract was awarded.
