The Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority received an updated project adviser budget report Oct. 17 and a status update on consultant procurements.

Stephen Ward, project manager assigned from MDOT, presented slides showing the board's appropriation, executed funds and contract encumbrances. He said executed funds as of the meeting date total about $1,645,000, leaving approximately $2,648,000 in appropriation and, after accounting for encumbrances, an estimated unencumbered balance near $1.3 million.

Ward said the independent quality assurance (IQA) contract with Delve Underground is nearly finalized and expected to execute soon; Delve also separately contracts with Enbridge. He said an owner's-representative RFP was posted Oct. 6 with proposals due Oct. 27; the authority plans to invite a limited number of offerors to present and hopes to recommend a selection at the board's Dec. 12 meeting. The owner's-representative contract will be task-order based to allow staged spending tied to appropriations, Ward said.

Why it matters: The authority's remaining unencumbered funds will shape how aggressively it can staff project oversight and when the board must seek additional appropriations. Ward said a supplemental appropriation could be pursued, but the authority expects to request funding through the annual state budget process roughly one year in advance.

Provenance: Ward's budget presentation began at 00:20:12 and consultant contract discussion continued through roughly 00:27:00.

Speakers: [
{"name":"Stephen Ward","role_title":"Project Manager (MDOT, on loan)","affiliation_type":"government","affiliation_name":"Michigan Department of Transportation","first_reference":{"timecode":"00:20:12","transcript_line_range":[1,8]}}
]

Authorities: [
{"type":"other","name":"Owner's representative RFP (issued Oct. 6, 2025)","referenced_by":["budget-consultants-2025-10-17"]},
{"type":"other","name":"Independent Quality Assurance contract with Delve Underground","referenced_by":["budget-consultants-2025-10-17"]}
]

Topics: [
{"name":"project_budget","justification":"Article reports appropriation, expenditures and procurement timelines affecting project oversight capacity.","scoring":{"topic_relevance":0.95,"depth_score":0.70,"opinionatedness":0.00,"controversy":0.40,"civic_salience":0.70,"impactfulness":0.70,"geo_relevance":1.00}}
]

Provenance_segments: [
{"block_id":"1207.855","local_start":0,"local_end":3600,"evidence_excerpt":"Alright. Good morning, mister chairman. So I put together a couple new slides, this, for this meeting. And the way we put it together is, budget executed and budget encumbered. So you'll see the appropriation at 4.49, dollars $9.00 9,000,000. What we've executed so far as of today's date is that $1,645,000 And with our internal expenses and then so we have a remaining appropriation budget, like right now in the bank, at about 2.648...","tc_start":"00:20:12","tc_end":"00:24:30","reason_code":"topicintro"},
{"block_id":"1540.675","local_start":0,"local_end":3600,"evidence_excerpt":"We are very close. We had to make some changes to it, and now it is in its final stages of going through contracting. So it'll get, signed hopefully this coming month is what we're anticipating for that contract to go final... The other 1 is the owner's representative, consultant contract. So that 1 went out on the October 6, so it is on the street right now. It is due, on the 20 seventh of this month at noon.","tc_start":"00:25:40","tc_end":"00:27:03","reason_code":"topicfinish"}
]