Gov. Ned Lamont came to the defense Wednesday of a $2 million contract the state has inked with Boston Consulting Group to help facilitate state government’s response to the coronavirus crisis and coordinate its phased reopening.
The consulting firm expects to perform $2 million worth of work for the state over eight weeks during a first phase of the project, including more than $1.2 million in the first two weeks to support the reopening efforts, according to a copy of the contract. This period began May 1 and will last through June 28.
Amid criticism from a top Republican lawmaker Wednesday, Lamont argued the consulting group is the best way to help the state coordinate regionally, across its neighboring states, and continue the work of his reopening advisory task force well into the state’s reopening process.
“By the way, it’s worth noting, it is paid for by the federal government,” Lamont said during his afternoon briefing. “It is a COVID-related expense, which is the way my neighboring states are doing this as well. We’re going to learn a lot by working together on this.”
The contract calls for BCG to create a “control tower” to help manage the state’s reopening. It promises “extremely difficult trade-off decisions made with data-driven analytical support, and community and industry input.”
The contract with BCG marks the first Connecticut has engaged in with a consulting firm during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the contract, as many as 17 consultants will break into five teams and create a control tower that will develop a coordinated “playbook” for Connecticut’s reopening, engage stakeholders on those plans and help manage the data, analytics and targets that Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration will use to gauge the success of their reopening plans.
After that initial reopening effort, the consulting group will taper off to just two teams that will help support the control tower through the end of June, according to the contract.
The group is designed to support the state’s commissioners and reopening task force members who already have been working on these plans, said state Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe, who signed the contract with the consultants on May 9.
BCG will charge the state weekly based on how many teams are assigned to the project — $110,000 per week for a small team of three consultants and $140,000 per week for a medium team of four, according to the contract. Those terms are discounted about 12% from the group’s usual rates “given its relationship with the State of Connecticut — and the nature of this work,” according to the agreement.
The group’s contract with the state lasts until April 30, 2021, with an option to extend it for an additional year.
In a statement Wednesday, Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano criticized Lamont for hiring consultants instead of working within the existing governmental structure.
“Instead of working with lawmakers to develop Connecticut’s strategy to get people back to work safely, the governor is contracting out our legislative authority with little transparency,” Fasano said. “I am extremely disappointed that the governor would rather hire consultants than listen to those elected by the people or even those experts they’ve appointed on their Advisory Group.”
Connecticut’s reopening process is set to begin May 20, when restaurants and some businesses will be allowed to reopen with strict restrictions.
Zach Murdock can be reached at zmurdock@courant.com. Alex Putterman can be reached at aputterman@courant.com.