Then you should consider that Governing has an agenda it wants to push. It wants to downplay the role of consultants. Because you can read the study yourself. And this is literally the first paragraph of the conclusion. https://transitcosts.com/wp-content/uploads/TCP_Final_Report... Page 375. The conclusion of the study is almost exclusively about consultants.
> Costs are soaring throughout the English-speaking world. There is mounting evidence from Seattle, Los Angeles,
Toronto, Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong, Melbourne, and the Bay Area that the cost of rapid rail projects in the
United States and other English-speaking countries is going to exceed $1 billion per kilometer even outside of New
York. The best way to address these soaring costs is to empower experts at transit and capital construction agencies
to plan, design, and manage the construction of these projects rather than relying on agency staff to manage
contracts, grants, and the interfaces between consultants and agency departments. We argue that by elevating
the transit agencies’ authority, and this unequivocally means bringing in experts who have a track record of
delivering megaprojects at reasonable costs, this will temper downstream cost drivers.
The rule is, don't believe anything in any publication that has an agenda in that area. Like, the Economist is pretty good when writing about other countries, but becomes a political mess when writing about the UK. Same with Governing it seems.
> Costs are soaring throughout the English-speaking world. There is mounting evidence from Seattle, Los Angeles, Toronto, Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong, Melbourne, and the Bay Area that the cost of rapid rail projects in the United States and other English-speaking countries is going to exceed $1 billion per kilometer even outside of New York. The best way to address these soaring costs is to empower experts at transit and capital construction agencies to plan, design, and manage the construction of these projects rather than relying on agency staff to manage contracts, grants, and the interfaces between consultants and agency departments. We argue that by elevating the transit agencies’ authority, and this unequivocally means bringing in experts who have a track record of delivering megaprojects at reasonable costs, this will temper downstream cost drivers.
The rule is, don't believe anything in any publication that has an agenda in that area. Like, the Economist is pretty good when writing about other countries, but becomes a political mess when writing about the UK. Same with Governing it seems.