New Jersey state senator demands federal review of $1.7B E-ZPass deal

A New Jersey lawmaker is calling on the Trump administration to scrutinize a $1.7 billion E-ZPass contract awarded last year by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio, in a Feb. 27 letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said he is “deeply concerned” that the 11-year contract, awarded in September 2024 to the Singapore-owned TransCore LP, will risk exposing motorists’ private account data to hostile foreign powers.

Pennacchio, citing a recent report by The Jersey Vindicator, also raised concerns about the closed-door bidding and negotiation process that resulted in the TransCore award, which was $250 million higher than the next-lowest qualified bidder.

That bidder, Conduent Inc. of Newark, has officially protested the award and says it will press its case to a state appeals court if the Turnpike Authority does not rebid the contract, which is believed to be one of the largest in the agency’s 75-year history.

“What is particularly disturbing to me,” Pennacchio wrote, “is that the NJTA held private meetings with TransCore to get their original bid, which was $500 million more than Conduent, down by $250 million. It would seem that the Turnpike Authority went out of its way to award this almost $2 billion contract to TransCore—why?”

The new contract calls for major improvements to the back-office operation that processes more than a million electronic toll transactions on the turnpike every day. Frustrated motorists have complained for years about billing errors, excessive fines, and poor customer service from the E-ZPass system, which had been managed by Conduent for more than 20 years.

Conduent officials argue that the Turnpike Authority, in a series of private negotiations with TransCore, made improper concessions about service center staffing and other items that allowed the firm to dramatically lower its initial bid. The officials point out that there is no public record of those meetings or a written report from the Turnpike Authority fully explaining its preference for TransCore.

In a Jan. 17 protest hearing, an attorney for Conduent also argued that TransCore has failed to fully disclose all owners of TransCore’s parent company, ST Engineering of Singapore, a government-owned engineering firm that, until last year, was linked to the Chinese Communist government in Beijing.

Former U.S. Sen. Robert G. Torricelli, a Conduent consultant who served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said New Jersey motorists deserve a better explanation about how the contract was awarded. Drivers who use the turnpike every day have a right to know their financial information is safe, he said.

“It’s as if the Turnpike is operating in its own universe,” Torricelli said in a recent interview with The Vindicator. “Every senior U.S. government official drives a car between Washington, D.C., and New York. A significant part of the freight of the country is moving between Port Newark and around the country. Can we allow a foreign government aligned with China access to all that? I’m suspicious.”

Pennacchio is one of several elected officials from both parties who have raised questions about the TransCore award. Some are calling for Gov. Phil Murphy to review the contract.

The governor’s office, which has veto power over all state authorities, has declined to speak on the controversy.

A spokesman for the Turnpike Authority said the agency is reviewing the matter and it is unclear when the review will be completed and made public.

“The Turnpike Authority is doing a thorough, thoughtful review of the issues raised by the protest,” Spokesman Thomas Feeney said.

TransCore’s successful pursuit of the Turnpike contract comes on the heels of other recent transportation-related awards for the firm in New Jersey and elsewhere. Company officials say its ascent shows it has superior technology and a proven track record. The Tennessee-based company, which was sold to foreign owners in 2021, also passed a rigorous U.S. government security review at the time of sale, the officials point out.

The Turnpike Authority said TransCore was chosen after a review by a special evaluation committee whose members voted unanimously to make the award, despite the fact that its initial bid was $500 million higher than Conduent and another bidder. The initial bid was lowered during the closed-door meeting.

Torricelli, citing a nearly 40% increase in Turnpike tolls over the past half-decade, said motorists deserve to know the state is zealously working to keep costs down.

“Tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike have become confiscatory. It has become impossible for working people to pay,” he said. “Yet we’re rewarding foreign firms with lucrative deals. It doesn’t make sense.”