Report 2018-108 Recommendation 15 Responses

Report 2018-108: California High‑Speed Rail Authority: Its Flawed Decision Making and Poor Contract Management Have Contributed to Billions in Cost Overruns and Delays in the System's Construction (Release Date: November 2018)

Recommendation #15 To: High-Speed Rail Authority, California

To help ensure that it meets its sustainability goals, the Authority should comprehensively compare the three construction projects' performances to their construction contractors' original baseline estimates on a quarterly basis. It should perform the first of these comparisons no later than May 2019.

6-Month Agency Response

The Authority has completed quarterly reports for each construction package that illustrate actual criteria air pollutants, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumed, and diversion rates and weight of construction waste. This quarterly reporting includes comparison of the actuals against estimates for criteria air pollutants, greenhouse gas emissions, water and construction waste. The reports also include illustration of contractors' required performance for reporting and absolute waste diversion rates. These reports are posted to the Sustainability SharePoint site and distributed to the executive team and Program Delivery staff.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

We reviewed the report the Authority provided and found that it compares the construction contracts' performance to baseline estimates or project goals for key environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants.

60-Day Agency Response

The Authority has continued with collection of data from all active construction projects. The Authority has assembled reports for each construction package that illustrate the actual air quality and greenhouse gas emissions, water consumed, and diversion rates and weight of construction waste. This report includes comparison of the actuals against estimates for key impact topics for the construction packages. For air quality and greenhouse gas emissions, a projection to construction completion is included as a scenario for total emissions. The reports also include illustration of contractors' required performance for reporting and absolute waste diversion rates. Charts that were available were included in the December program delivery status reports, and future complete quarterly reports will be provided on the Authority sustainability site.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Partially Implemented

The Authority provided draft analyses comparing the three construction projects' emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants to construction contractors' original baselines and actual construction progress. As part of assessing the recommendation's status in May, we will revisit these analyses and also determine whether the Authority has begun conducting equivalent analyses for other environmental impacts, such as water use, which we discuss on page 64 of our audit report.

All Recommendations in 2018-108

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.