There are new concerns about Florida's SunPass system. FDOT officials said there are tens of millions of dollars in unpaid tolls that the state could end up having to pay for.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the botched rollout of the SunPass system in June last year resulted in about $50 million in uncollected toll revenue.
The new head of the state’s turnpike enterprise, Nicola Liquori told lawmakers the department anticipate to collect only 90% of its toll revenue for the fiscal year.
The lost money is from unpaid tolls stemming from problems with its troubled contractor, Conduent.
According to the report, Conduent was unequipped to handle the large amount of SunPass transactions, which led to problems of overbilling and missed payments.
The state decided to delay sending bills to customers until the problems could be hashed out .
However, now the state could be losing out on tens of millions of dollars. Within the last year, the report said the state has sent out about $120 million in unpaid bills to SunPass users.
FDOT reportedly expects to get a little more than half of it back.
Moving forward, Liquori said the department expects to collect the normal 95% of tolls this year.
The state had the option of extending Conduent’s contract by another seven years, but transportation officials declined.
The report said on Friday, the department plans on sending a new request for information to companies looking to pick up a new deal.
Liquori said the companies bidding on the new contract will have to show that they are already able to process the amount of transactions Sunpass currently manages.
