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Washington State Ferries official says $773,000 was spent on cancelled reservations project; panel urged clearer accounting
Summary
At the San Juan County Ferry Advisory Committee meeting, Washington State Ferries’ liaison said the TRM reservation contract with vendor Anchor cost $773,000, about $432,000 of which WSF expects to reuse; committee members pressed for clearer accounting and timeline for a new RFP.
Jennifer Swanson, chair of the San Juan County Ferry Advisory Committee, opened the meeting and invited Tali Teal, community and legislative liaison for Washington State Ferries, to update the committee on Lopez terminal issues and the status of the ticketing and reservation modernization program (TRM).
Teal said WSF did not negotiate a commission-based contract with the vendor Anchor and that the agency has not selected a new vendor for the reservation system. “During the life of that contract, WSF spent $773,000 on Anchor,” Teal said, and added: “We estimate about $432,000 of that is reusable work.” She also told the committee the project website is out of date due to technical upload problems and that WSF staff are still working through procurement steps before announcing next steps.
Committee members asked for more detail. Carrie McVey, San Juan County council member and the council’s FAC liaison, said members want to understand “what went wrong, and we don’t have any idea how…what went wrong is going to be fixed in this new process.” Teal acknowledged the concern and said she had no additional detail beyond prior communications but offered to pass the committee’s questions to the project team.
David Robison and others suggested the Engage page should link to local coverage about the contract cancellation and asked that the spending figure be included in any public summary. Robison said the difference between the $773,000 and the $432,000 reusable portion is material to the county’s communication: “that’s a $341,000 waste,” he said.
Teal clarified that the $773,000 figure refers to the payment to the Anchor contract only; she said the broader TRM program is funded at $22,000,000 but that internal staff time beyond the Anchor contract is not included in the $773,000 figure she cited.
The committee agreed to post Ken Burtness’s memo and a local Salish Current article about the TRM cancellation on the county Engage page, and to request that WSF provide fuller accounting of external and internal costs associated with the now-terminated contract.
Ending: The FAC asked staff to follow up with WSF for clarifications on the full program cost and on what work will be reused by any new vendor. The committee also decided to link local coverage to the Engage page so the public can see the available documentation.
