News  The Internal Special Audit Unit (ISAU) Review of the MBTA’s Police Dispatch Services Contract with IXP Corporation

On December 23, 2022, the Internal Special Audit Unit (ISAU) for the Office of the Inspector General (Office) issued a report detailing its review of the MBTA’s contract with IXP Corporation (IXP) to staff the Transit Police Department’s (TPD) dispatch center. The dispatch center answers emergency and non-emergency calls and dispatches police officers to respond to incidents throughout the MBTA transit system. Before contracting with IXP in 2017, sworn police officers performed all dispatch functions for TPD.

The ISAU found that IXP performed all the essential functions set out in the contract and met the minimum staffing requirements during 98% of the contract period. TPD employees also reported that IXP generally performed police dispatch services well. However, the company did not meet two of the four performance metrics in the contract, did not track another metric, and did not comply with other requirements in the contract. 

The ISAU also reviewed whether the contract achieved the MBTA’s stated goals for hiring IXP: saving money, curbing overtime, reducing serious crimes throughout the MBTA transit system, and returning police officers that were performing dispatch functions to patrol duties. Due to a lack of records from the MBTA and TPD, the ISAU could not determine whether the MBTA saved money by privatizing police dispatch services. The ISAU also could not correlate hiring IXP to curbing overtime, reducing crime or returning police officers to patrol duties. Finally, the ISAU compared TPD’s in-house dispatch performance to IXP’s performance. The ISAU found that TPD’s dispatch times were faster before hiring IXP.

Additionally, the ISAU found that the actual cost of the contract was $5,513,712, which was $688,592 (or 14.27%) more than the expected cost at the time of the original contract execution. The actual cost exceeded the expected cost because the MBTA agreed to annual rate increases in the last two years of the contract. The ISAU also found that the MBTA incurred two additional expenses related to the contract: training and consulting costs. Due to a lack of records from TPD, the ISAU could not quantify the personnel costs related to police officers training IXP employees. The ISAU found that the MBTA paid $154,000 to hire a consultant to assist with transitioning dispatch services from TPD to IXP.

 Of particular note, the ISAU found that the MBTA and TPD did not manage the contract with IXP well. They did not, for example, require IXP to fulfill certain obligations in the contract and did not impose financial penalties when IXP did not meet performance metrics. In September 2022, the MBTA entered into a second contract with IXP for police dispatch services. The MBTA and TPD must actively administer this new contract. This includes enforcing all contract terms, monitoring IXP’s performance and holding the company accountable for its performance, including the metrics in the contract. As part of contract administration, the MBTA and TPD must assign clearly delineated roles and ensure that each individual who is responsible for administration fully understands the terms of the contract.

Finally, throughout its review, the ISAU identified weaknesses in the MBTA’s contract development, contract administration and vendor oversight, as well as its records and information retention practices. Although this review focused on one MBTA services contract, the report outlines how the MBTA and TPD should enhance their procedures for all contracts. Specifically, the ISAU developed nine recommendations that the MBTA should implement to improve contract development, contract administration, vendor oversight and records retention so that the authority appropriately uses its funds.