The Green Line Extension (GLX) is an initiative to expand transit services in Greater Boston by extending the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line light rail service from a relocated Lechmere Station in East Cambridge to Union Square in Somerville and College Avenue in Medford. Due to projected cost overruns, the program management/construction management services were terminated by the MBTA. To bring the in-progress work to a safe and satisfactory conclusion, the MBTA assumed resident engineering and inspection responsibilities for the GLX construction contracts. All other construction management tasks to close out these construction contracts were assigned to three firms that held general engineering services contracts with the MBTA, one of which was PMA.
Overview
PMA Role
PMA was responsible for project controls, cash flow, and budget analysis of all closeout activities. The project controls tasks included reviewing the monthly schedule updates submitted by the contractor for four interim guaranteed maximum price (IGMP) contracts; analyzing contractor-submitted time impact analysis (TIA) schedules requesting time extensions; and compiling information from multiple sources to generate monthly progress reports, PIF reports, and dashboards, which were presented to senior MBTA management and federal agencies. The cash flow and budget analysis tasks included reviewing current costs and charges on existing construction contracts as reported in the MBTA capital management system and developing an “estimate-to-discontinue” for the project that illustrated available funds remaining from the original budget for use on a future redesigned GLX project.