A group digging into government spending is focused on construction and consulting fees in the Maine checkbook, two of the state’s biggest expenses last year.

 

Question 1: Break down the construction expenses for us.

 

Maine spent just over $500 million paying construction companies last year. That means almost 1 in every 3 dollars the state sent to an outside vendor last year went to a construction company. 

 

More than half of that money went to just six companies. Those six got $272 million - more than the entire budget of the City of Portland.

 

Blythe Construction Inc got $95.6 million, the largest check Maine has ever written to an outside company (our records go back to 2017). The money went to their Bangor office but the company is based in North Carolina.

 

Pike Industries Inc got $37.9 million to their offices in New Hampshire and Boston. All States Construction $33.6 million in Sunderland, Mass.

 

Question 2: And how much did the state spend hiring consultants last year?

 

$104 million on consulting. A lot of that is also for engineers to help with construction projects. There’s also medical consultants, IT and technology consultants. Paying outside companies to advise them how to do their jobs.

 

Again, a lot of that money is going to companies based outside of Maine. The top eight consulting companies that got the most money:

 

VANASSE HANGEN BRUSTLIN INC   civil engineering New Jersey

HNTB Corp infrastructure design from Missouri

Acentra Health Virginia

TYLin International engineering San Francisco

Kleinfelder Construction Services NY-based, check to Los Angeles

Gainwell Technologies digital and cloud Utah-based, check to Philly location

WSP USA engineering NY

 

Question 3: Can we expect similar spending going forward?

 

The Department of Transportation has 119 active projects. 11 active bridge replacements. The $28 million renovation of the welcome center at Acadia.

 

And that makes sense. We just talked a couple of weeks ago about Maine’s bridges. 388 of them are in need of repairs. That’s over 15% - the fourth worst rate in the country.

 

But these contracts can be lucrative for the construction companies. In other states we’ve seen some of the same companies working for Maine earning up to $255/hour. We haven’t yet obtained Maine’s contracts so we can’t say for sure if they’re earning a similar amount here.