State hires $2M reopening consultant
The state has hired an outside consultant with a target fee of $2 million to help with the reopening effort, as Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration balances both the continued pandemic response and restarting the Connecticut economy.
The Boston Consulting Group Inc., a globally recognized management advisory firm, will provide eight weeks of support for phase one of the state’s coronavirus response. A copy of the firm’s contract with the state shows four teams working for the state, with a proposed total fee of $2 million — which could rise or fall depending on changes agreed upon by the state and BCG.
As much as 100 percent of the contract cost could be reimbursed by the federal government, Lamont spokesman Max Reiss said Tuesday night.
The project began May 1 and continues through June 28, and the contract extends as far as April 2021. Prices per person assigned to the job, or per hour, are not spelled out in the contract.
In addition to that talent and the existing base of state employees, “The administration wanted organizational support as it explored how to reopen and manage that process,” Reiss
said. “No state has ever had to do this before, and we wanted to provide the governor and the administration with the support and resources necessary to make the best decisions in the interests of public health.”
There was no open bid for the contract, as that process was suspended under the executive order granting Lamont emergency powers. As for not publicizing the contract, Reiss said the state has entered into numerous contracts for personal protective equipment without publicizing every single one.
“Look, we could do an RFP process, we could get the responses in 60 days and we could interpret it for a while, or we can get going, and what I hear from small businesses across the state is I want to get going in a prudent and thoughtful way,” Lamont said Wednesday during his daily briefing. “I thought this was a prudent and thoughtful way to proceed.”
The firm is also consulting the seven state regional collaboration, as well as Massachusetts and Rhode Island directly. The group has also done some work for the state of New York, including a preliminary economic impact assessment.
“So they are the glue that helps us think about how as a region we’re going to do this, and we’re going to learn best practices from each and every one of our neighboring states,” Lamont said. “As you know we are working together as a consortium. And as the Reopen CT team winds down, the Boston Consulting Group is going to help us on all those same metrics, be it on testing, be it on the protocols opening up, so we can collect the best information from all of the other companies and practices in the region and learn from them.”
The firm’s activities are divided similarly to that of the Lamont’s appointed reopening advisory committee — with subgroups for health, data, business/economy and education/community support. The teams are helping with workflow management, communication and analytics. The contract spells out “medium” and “small” for sizes of the teams for various segments of the work.
“The BCG team will also provide targeted analytics to support effective workplanning and strategy development – for example, helping understand the current state situation and potential scenarios for re-opening,” the contract reads. “The BCG team will ensure coordination across the different workstreams, identifying interdependencies, owners, and milestones as part of the workplans to support the evolving implementation needs for a successful re-opening.”
So far, all work done by the firm has been online via zoom calls. Reiss said the group directly consulted with the state on all of the reopening guidelines that have been developed, including the creation of the diagrams of stores and other businesses to illustrate the reopening, as well as PowerPoint presentations, layout, graphic design and more.
Lamont has often talked effusively about the richness of corporate, nonprofit and academic talent available in Connecticut, some of which is on his appointed, volunteer reopening committee of about 50 members.
Members of the consulting team include several managing directors and partners at BCG, and at least one person with a background in epidemiology.
Republicans were fast to criticize the move, including the way it was carried out without legislative approval or a public announcement.
“There's a reason why there are three branches of government,” said Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano. “The legislature represents the voices of the people across our state. We talk to constituents every day about the real-world problems they are facing, how they are struggling to put food on the table, and the questions and concerns they have about getting back to work. We bring checks and balances to the executive branch. But instead of working with lawmakers to develop Connecticut's strategy to get people back to work safely, the governor is contracting out our legislative authority with little transparency.”