ACQUISITION AND PROCUREMENT: Adopting Additional Leading Practices to Manage the Baltimore Penn Station Redevelopment Could Help Mitigate Project Risks
December 14, 2016 | Audit Reports
In September 2015, Senator Barbara Mikulski requested that we review the company’s efforts to redevelop Baltimore Penn Station. In October 2015, we responded that we were skeptical about the company’s ability and readiness to undertake and oversee the redevelopment of the station using a master developer in a timely manner, given the company’s history of weaknesses in managing its programs and projects.3 Subsequently, in January 2016, Senator Mikulski and other members of the Maryland congressional delegation asked us to clarify for the company the basis for our skepticism. Thus, we initiated an audit to further review the company’s efforts to manage and oversee the Baltimore Penn Station redevelopment project.
Our objectives are to provide an update on the Baltimore Penn Station redevelopment project and assess the extent to which the company is following leading practices in selecting a master developer and managing and overseeing the project. For details about our scope and methodology, see Appendix A.
To identify leading practices, we conducted a review of available literature and contracted with the American Productivity and Quality Center4 (APQC) to conduct research and provide insights on how other project sponsors have successfully managed the selection and oversight of a master developer. Based on our combined research, we identified several leading practices for selecting and overseeing a master developer:
• establishing a clearly defined vision and goals
• assembling an experienced core project team
• engaging external and internal stakeholders
• assessing the project’s economic and financial feasibility
• creating a transparent and competitive selection process
• establishing transparent governance and project management frameworks
• creating a strong legal agreement
• developing a plan and dedicating resources for managing and overseeing the master developer