At an August 16, 2022 meeting, the Steamship Authority’s five members by unanimous vote authorized general manager/CEO Robert Davis to make an expenditure of $11,275,000 for the purchase of two used oilfield support ships. In preparation for the same meeting, members were given documentation projecting the need of a further $21,099,000 in order to fully convert and reactivate the used ships.

A project timeline had been provided to the members; it showed the two renovated and modified vessels available for service in the SSA fleet before or during the 2023 summer schedule. Mr. Davis projected the total cost for two fully-completed vessels to be $32 million, or $16 million each.

That same timeline targeted August 29, 2022 for publication of an invitation for bids from shipyards and set Oct. 12, 2022 as the deadline for the yards to tender their bids for the reactivation and conversion of the ships as ferries. Those targeted dates could not be met, and the invitation for bids was not actually published until Nov. 9, 2022. All bids were to be submitted by Dec. 8, 2022. That submission date also was unachievable, and the deadline was further extended to Jan. 18, 2023.

At least 27 shipyards had requested the specifications from which to tender their bids for award of the contract to overhaul and modify the ships. As of Dec. 12, 2022 it was anticipated that actual bids would be offered by at least eight shipyards. But the bid submittal deadline was extended yet again.

Finally, on Feb. 8, 2023 the bids were opened and “taken under advisement.” Two had been received. The low bid priced the proposed work at just less than $19,964,000 per vessel. The runner-up priced the same work at just more than $31,277,000 per vessel.

These bids brought some astonishment.

Ultimately, negotiations between SSA and the low bidder produced a proposal to execute a diminished shipyard project with an extended delivery date, at a contract cost of $13,705,138 per vessel. That proposal was presented on April 6, 2023 and accepted, after discussion including expressions of disappointment, by unanimous vote of the members.

However, it was made clear to the members that additional costs should be expected. A “status report” included in the members’ meeting documents indicates a budget cost of $49,986,148 for the two ferries. That budget figure reflects additional costs for design and engineering, owner supplied materials, consultants and an allowance for contingencies.

In summary, a $32 million “bargain” for two ships became a $50 million obligation. A third vessel has already been bought and paid for with a further expenditure of $5,637,500. Its conversion cost remains to be determined.

At the April 7 meeting, Falmouth authority member Peter Jeffrey used apt words when he spoke of “colossal failure” in the production of the estimates supporting acquisition of the three sister ships.

Whether the Steamship Authority administration can effectively audit itself regarding this failure, as requested by the Vineyard and Falmouth members, may be revealed at the board’s upcoming meeting on June 29 in Nantucket.

It’s an audit that needs to be carried through to its end, if only as an exhibition of sound management and good governance. Beyond that, only time will reveal the aptness of these “new” ferries for the service that we all depend on.

David Dandridge lives in Vineyard Haven and was the captain for various Steamship ferries for 25 years. He held an unlimited master’s license with first class pilotage endorsements.