Trenton, NJ – March 14, 2025 – A storm of controversy has erupted in New Jersey over the New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s decision to award a lucrative $1.73 billion contract to operate its E-ZPass program to TransCore, a Nashville-based company with foreign ownership ties, over Conduent, a local Newark-based firm that has managed the system for over two decades.
The decision, finalized in September 2024, has sparked allegations of secrecy, favoritism, and potential national security risks due to TransCore’s alleged connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The contract, one of the largest in the Turnpike Authority’s 75-year history, involves managing 60 million annual E-ZPass transactions across the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, and toll roads overseen by six other state agencies. It encompasses critical tasks such as customer service, toll payment processing, and safeguarding sensitive motorist data. Yet, the bidding process has come under intense scrutiny, with critics questioning why a foreign-linked firm was chosen over a proven local competitor offering a significantly lower bid.
Conduent, which submitted a bid of $1.48 billion—$250 million less than TransCore’s winning offer—formally protested the award in October 2024. The Newark-based company, a staple in New Jersey’s economy with approximately 2,000 employees in the state, argued that the Turnpike Authority’s decision lacked transparency and unfairly favored TransCore. “There is no justification for awarding TransCore a contract that is over $251 million more than what Conduent offered,” Conduent stated in its appeal, highlighting the cost disparity and raising concerns about the integrity of the bidding process.
The controversy deepened when Conduent pointed to TransCore’s ownership structure.
TransCore, while headquartered in Tennessee, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering), which Temasek Holdings, a Singapore government-owned investment firm, control. Temasek has faced scrutiny for its historical business dealings with China, including the presence of Fu Chengyu—a former high-ranking CCP official and ex-chairman of state-owned Chinese oil companies—on its board until recently. Conduent and lawmakers argue that these ties raise red flags about data security and foreign influence, given the sensitive nature of the E-ZPass system, which tracks the movements of millions of drivers.
State Senator Joseph Pennacchio (R-26) has emerged as a vocal critic, accusing the Turnpike Authority of conducting closed-door negotiations that favored TransCore despite its initial bid being $500 million higher than Conduent’s.
“What is particularly disturbing to me is that the NJTA held private meetings with TransCore to get their original bid… down by $250 million,” Pennacchio wrote in a letter to the U.S. State Department, calling for a federal review. “It would seem that the Turnpike Authority went out of its way to award this almost $2 billion contract to TransCore—why?”
The Turnpike Authority has defended its decision, stating that a special evaluation committee unanimously selected TransCore for its “technical and operational capabilities” deemed superior to competitors. However, the lack of public records detailing these private negotiations or justifying the preference for TransCore has fueled accusations of opacity.
Tom Feeney, a spokesperson for the agency, declined to comment further, citing the ongoing bid protest: “It wouldn’t be appropriate for the agency to comment on Conduent’s allegations until the final agency decision is issued.”
The decision has also drawn bipartisan outrage. U.S. Representative Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) labeled it “reckless and unnecessary,” arguing that handing critical infrastructure operations to a company with potential ties to China jeopardizes national security when capable American firms like Conduent are available.
Former U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli, a Democrat and Conduent consultant, went further, telling Fox Business, “I would rather the Chinese knew what I was watching on TikTok than have the Chinese monitoring my car going up and down the New Jersey Turnpike.”
TransCore has pushed back against the allegations, with CEO Whitt Hall asserting that the company operates transparently and complies with a National Security Agreement with the U.S. Departments of Justice and Treasury to protect private data from foreign access.
“There is no connection between TransCore, or its parent company ST Engineering, with the Chinese Communist Party,” the company stated, downplaying Temasek’s role as a mere shareholder rather than a controlling entity.
However, Conduent countered that TransCore’s response fails to address Temasek’s majority ownership or Fu Chengyu’s recent board tenure, intensifying the debate over transparency and accountability.
