Manassas Journal Messenger | Marshall wants Dulles rail change
Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas, has asked Virginia’s secretary of transportation to ditch the agency slated to oversee the rail extension to Washington Dulles International Airport.
Citing criticisms from a 2002 federal report, Marshall recommended that the Virginia Department of Transportation be the prime Dulles Rail project coordinator.
The secretary disagreed.
Marshall wrote a letter to Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer after an attempt to end the agreement through proposed legislation failed last month.
Homer said Marshall’s recommendation won’t be heeded.
In March, VDOT entered into an agreement with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority that gives the airport authority control over the rail project.
In his letter to Homer, Marshall questioned MWAA’s past contracting practices as highlighted in a U.S. Government Accountability Office report.
Marshall’s letter says the “GAO questioned whether the Authority obtained the best value in the marketplace for the goods and services that the Authority acquired through contracts.”
Homer said as far as he is aware, MWAA resolved those past issues and is the best agency to do the job.
It owns the land that the rail will be built on and it has the ability to manage this large-scale, multi-billion-dollar project, Homer said.
In September, Marshall introduced legislation that would have required General Assembly approval of the MWAA agreement with VDOT.
Homer said the bill, if passed, would have had a chilling effect on future negotiations with MWAA.
A Senate committee killed the bill.