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Lawmakers express lack of faith in SunPass vendor

Posted at 4:51 PM, Feb 06, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-06 19:51:44-05

Drivers who lost hundreds of dollars in toll charges due to SunPass issues say it's time for a new vendor.

"I'm very concerned from a consumer standpoint," said Jaime Estrada.

Estrada drives from Vero Beach to Miami for work and out to the west coast. When the vendor 'Conduent' failed to implement a new system for SunPass, she couldn't access her toll history.

"My company has set limitations as to when you can submit expense reports so I was losing some times hundreds of dollars a month," she said.

Senators on the infrastructure and security committeeechoed her same concerns in a meeting with a Florida Department of Transportation representative Tuesday.

"After witnessing this most recent issue at the hands of Conduent, I want to know why this company is still under contract," said Senator Janet Cruz.

"We're totally focused on trying to make this system and getting it to work, both the contractor and DOT," said Department of Transportation District 4 Secretary Gerry O'Reilly.

"For me and for taxpayers, that is just not good enough," said Senator Cruz.

The committee is pressuring DOT to hold Conduent accountable for its failures. The vendor is being fined $780,000 for not having the system up in time. Estrada wants a new vendor to take over.

"My money is hard earned just like everyone's is so I do believe that the government needs to have a little more control of who they're utilizing and hopefully they’ll correct it," added Estrada.

Between this week and next, drivers will be receiving the last of the backlogged invoices that were not processed. Most of those drivers are billed through the toll-by-plate system.