MTA appoints monitor for $1.15b transit projects.

Thacher Associates, LLC, one of New York's preeminent investigative, fraud prevention and business intelligence firms, has been selected by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to serve as the integrity monitor- or Independent Private Sector Inspector General (IPSIG).

The firm will monitor the construction of the MTA's new $750 million Fulton Street Transit Center and the $400 million renovation of the South Ferry subway terminal in lower Manhattan.

Katherine Lapp, MTA executive director said, "The MTA is committed to the highest standards of integrity in all aspects of its operations.

"The engagement of Thacher Associates will provide an important extra level of assurance for us and for the public that construction on these two costly and critical projects meets these standards, while also assuring that the projects are completed on time and within budget."

Thomas D. (Toby) Thacher II, president and CEO of Thacher Associates and a former prosecutor, said, "We are extremely pleased to have been selected by the MTA to assist it on these important construction projects. Our approach is designed to prevent improprieties before they occur. Contractors on these projects will understand that integrity counts to the MTA and that breaches will be swiftly detected and decisively corrected."

Working on behalf of the MTA, Thacher Associates will provide a team of on-site and behind-the-scenes investigators, engineers, auditors, attorneys and analysts who will ensure compliance by contractors with a number of legal and contractual requirements including the obligation to pay the prevailing rate of wages. It will tap into its huge database of information on construction firms existing in New York.

The company will also verify the bona fides of Disadvantaged Business Enterprises ("DBE"s) employed on the Projects and monitor that the DBE firms perform the work with their own staffs, supervision, and finances. It will also ensure that payments to subcontractors are made on a timely basis and that there is compliance by contractors with federal regulations regarding the composition of the workforce on the projects.

Construction has commenced on both projects. The Fulton Street Transit Center will improve access to, and connect, 12 subway lines. It is scheduled for completion in winter 2008. The improved South Ferry Terminal for the 1 and 9 subway lines will be relocated underneath Peter Minuit Plaza and will offer a new free transfer between the 1 and 9 and the R and W lines. It will he completed in late 2007.

Mr. Thacher added, "It's all about working with owners to assure integrity controls are in place and then deploying integrity monitors to audit compliance with those controls. Preventing corruption starts with knowing how it occurs on a construction project or in a facilities program and then understanding what strategies will block corruption opportunities."

Thacher Associates was one of four firms selected by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani as integrity monitors for the clean-up of Ground Zero in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Working on-site at Ground Zero, the firms identified many millions of dollars in fraudulent overcharges--and prevented the loss of millions more--in the $800 million World Trade Center clean-up.

Thacher Associates has served as integrity monitors on the Time Warner Center building, the Bank of America Towers, the ClBC U.S. headquarters on Madison Avenue and the Interactive Corporation headquarters in Chelsea.