A state investigation determined the Steamship Authority wasted millions in public funds in its pursuit of a new website and has brought into question whether the current general manager should stay on as a senior advisor.
In a nearly 60-page report released on Thursday, the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General found that the development of the Steamship Authority’s website wasted between $2 million and over $4 million before it was halted last fall. The state agency, tasked with preventing and detecting waste in public resources, also determined that a lack of oversight had resulted in the project’s failure.
“The Steamship Authority has nothing to show after pouring millions of dollars into an effort that was doomed from the start,” Inspector General Jeffrey S. Shapiro said in a press release. “Indeed, the Steamship Authority’s failure to appreciate the difference between the public-facing website and the back-end reservation system anchors the cascade of failures that ensued.”
The state agency described the project as “ill-conceived, poorly executed, and a waste of public funds.” It stated the ferry line and its board had made a “critical misstep” prioritizing the redevelopment of a website without addressing the underlying issues of the ferry reservation system. The inspector general’s office found in its investigation, which started after it heard about crashes of the website during peak reservation times, that Bob Davis, Steamship Authority general manager, didn’t follow advice from the 2018 HMS report, which reviewed operations at the ferry line, that identified the antiquated reservation system as a major risk. The investigation additionally found that Davis hadn’t assigned a project manager with the necessary skills or experience to manage the website redesign and didn’t keep the board informed on “key decisions” as the project fell behind schedule and racked up costs.
“The Board, which is charged with the Authority’s overall management, exercised virtually no meaningful oversight of the Authority’s spending throughout the project. SSA Board members did not ask enough questions as they heard overly optimistic, unrealistic, or incomplete information. They either did not understand or did not execute their oversight function, resulting in many instances in which they failed to exercise their fiduciary responsibilities,” the report said.
The expensive redesign of the website was shelved last September after over two years of development. Delays and a price tag that ballooned to nearly $3 million had put the project under heavy public scrutiny. The ferry line is now planning to launch a revamped website alongside a new reservation system next fall.
“The Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority is in receipt of the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General report on its website development project and is thoroughly reviewing the extensive document,” a statement from the Steamship Authority reads. “As we have only recently received the report, we are unable to comment on specifics until that review is complete.”
Jim Malkin, Martha’s Vineyard representative and board chair, said he and Island Port Council members John Cahill and Joe Sollitto had “said from the beginning” that conducting a website redesign was “inappropriate” without tackling the underlying information technology infrastructure.
“The greatest risk of the SSA as an organization is its IT infrastructure,” Malkin said.
But the inspector general also raised concerns over Davis staying as senior advisor, a position offered to him for up to 18 months, as new general manager Alex Kryska is set to start in January. The state agency underscored that this could “impede the new general manager from setting his course for the SSA.” Davis was also found by the inspector general not to have demonstrated a strong suit for “strategic planning, project management, and implementing large projects,” which brought further question as to why he was assigned to the position.
The board had retained Davis for his decades of institutional knowledge of the Steamship Authority, and Malkin said Davis would have no authority over ferry line operations, which will fall under Kryska’s supervision. Davis would undertake specific projects as directed by the board.
“Kryska is the new general manager. Bob Davis is retired as general manager,” Malkin said.
Malkin said he was confident the ferry line and board were now headed in the right direction to rectify the concerns listed by the report, which is a point shared by the inspector general.
“With the arrival of a new general manager in January 2026, the SSA will have the opportunity to examine its operating procedures, consider new approaches to project management, adopt best practices, and set a true tone from the top,” the report said.
The ferry line and its board are also being called to conduct a review of their “project planning, execution, and oversight practices” while setting a “tone from the top” that values employee input and respects public funds. The inspector general also recommended a reevaluation of the ferry line’s enabling act to “improve oversight of a significant public resource.”
The steering committee of the Steamship Authority Citizens’ Action Group, an organization that has advocated for change at the ferry line, said in a statement that it was “grateful to see formal recognition of the longstanding and widespread mismanagement by the Steamship Authority’s senior leadership and board.”
“Residents of all port communities have raised these concerns for years, often without acknowledgement or meaningful response,” the statement reads. “This report validates those concerns and underscores the urgent need for accountability, transparency, and structural reform to ensure the Steamship Authority serves the public interest it was created to serve.”
This report is stunning — and, in my view, deeply troubling. A state investigation finding $2–$4 million in wasted public funds, a project described as “ill-conceived” and “doomed from the start,” and a lack of real board oversight point to a failure of governance, not a technical misstep.
What I find most concerning is that major risks were identified years earlier, yet leadership pressed ahead anyway, without proper project management and without keeping the board fully informed. That is not hindsight; it is disregard for known warnings.
I don’t think the Inspector General’s finding that board members either did not understand or did not execute their fiduciary responsibilities should be brushed aside. Oversight is not ceremonial. Asking hard questions is a core obligation when ratepayers are funding multi-million-dollar projects.
It is also fair to question whether retaining the former general manager as a senior advisor represents a true reset. Continuity has value, but so does accountability — especially when leadership shortcomings are cited in a state report.
If public trust is to be restored, reform must go beyond optimism and assurances. I think it requires transparency, consequences, and a change in governance culture — not just a new website.
Malkin and the rest of the board are a big part of the problem. It’s clear they enabled Davis’ incompetence and now are attempting CYA! The entire board should be replaced immediately and Davis should be terminated!