Governance: Early Planning and Oversight Deficiencies Led to Initial Program Failures and Continued Risks to the Moynihan Train Hall Program

The objective for this management advisory report was to assess the effectiveness of the company’s management and oversight of the program, including the extent to which it has identified and mitigated schedule and budget risks. We found that the company has taken significant steps to remedy early program management deficiencies on the Moynihan program. This included changes to the program’s leadership and team and significant improvements in cost management, as well as, the development of a reliable schedule. It did not, however, take these actions soon enough to avoid cost increases and ensure that it can complete its entire station relocation by the scheduled opening by the end of 2020. These ongoing cost and schedule risks are the result of ineffective executive oversight coupled with inexperienced program staff during the company’s first two years on the program, and a failure to follow the company’s program management standards. In December 2019, the company changed the program’s leadership and team, assigning trained program and construction managers who significantly improved the program’s structure, management, and oversight. Nevertheless, the new team has not been able to fully recover from these earlier program management deficiencies. Because of this, the company has had to request an additional $72.8 million from the Board of Directors since the program’s start, and parts of the program needed for opening day may be at risk of delays. We did not identify any additional actions that the company could take to better mitigate the risks of delays because of the limited time remaining on the Moynihan program. Continued active program management and ongoing executive oversight will help the company meet its planned schedule for opening the station.