9 Investigates

FDOT says it will hold off on paying SunPass contractor

By Daralene Jones, WFTV.com
By Daralene Jones, WFTV.com

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Florida Department of Transportation said Monday it will hold off on paying a contractor that knocked the SunPass system offline for weeks.

9 Investigates was the first to report when the vendor's upgrades didn't take, creating a massive backlog in pending tolls.

FDOT is delaying the payment, but the agency hasn't said much else.

9 Investigates' Daralene Jones learned the company hasn't submitted any invoices for payment since June 11.

Read: Some drivers may have been charged twice, FDOT says in letter to SunPass contractor

FDOT refuses to answer direct questions about how much the company will be fined, and 9 Investigates still can't find out why the state awarded a $287 million contract to a company with a history of performance issues.

FDOT said it will withhold payments to Conduent, the company hired to privately operate SunPass and other toll systems throughout the state.

The contractor had been working to upgrade the SunPass website and mobile app and merge the toll agency with others.

The SunPass system was taken offline for upgrades for almost a week in early June, but the work ended up becoming a nightmare for millions of drivers, forcing them to wait weeks before they saw charges posted to their accounts.

The contractor later told FDOT the following in a letter 9 Investigates obtained:

"Network changes were implemented and utilization and performance have been strong."

"Webpage load time has been reduced to under 3.5 seconds."

And an "independent third party vendor has been engaged to identify further improvements."

Read: SunPass shutdown: system down for week's worth of maintenance

Conduent, a New Jersey-based technology company, has run into issues delivering on government contracts in Texas, Colorado, Tennessee, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Some of those issues 9 Investigates exposed in 2015, long before the state signed the $287 million contract, which now allows Conduent to manage toll billing and violations.

FDOT told 9 Investigates Monday that more than 46 million transactions have been posted so far.

Officials said the company will face fines and penalties.

Cox Media Group

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