A month after stepping down as secretary of the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTOP, in Spanish), Eileen M. Vélez Vega was appointed strategic infrastructure director at Kimley-Horn, a company that had contracts with the Puerto Rico Highway and Transportation Authority (ACT, in Spanish) and the Ports Authority (AP, in Spanish), two corporations affiliated with DTOP where she served as chairwoman of their respective boards of directors.
Since the contracts were with the two public corporations and not with DTOP, the Office of Government Ethics of Puerto Rico (OEG, in Spanish) determined that “there is no impediment for you to hold the position of Strategic Infrastructure Director at Kimley-Horn,” according to a February 7 opinion signed by Massiel Y. Hernández Tolentino, the assistant director of the OEG’s Legal Advice and Litigation Area, in response to an enquiry that Vélez Vega submitted.
The Government Ethics Act stipulates that a former public servant cannot, during the year following the termination of their government employment, hold a position, have a pecuniary interest, or contract, directly or indirectly, with an agency, private person, or business over which they exercised official action during the year before the termination of their employment.
Vélez Vega was an associate vice president at Kimley-Horn just before becoming DTOP secretary. Her appointment as secretary of Transportation was announced on December 6, 2020, by former Governor Pedro Pierluisi. According to the OEG document, Vélez Vega remained with the engineering firm as a contractor for ACT and Ports until December 31, 2020.
She Represented Kimley-Horn in Dealings with the Ports and Highway Authorities
As vice president of Kimley-Horn, Vélez Vega appeared before the AP in 2020 and signed five contracts between the engineering consultancy firm and the public corporation. These same contracts were amended to extend their validity or amount when the engineer was already chairing the AP’s board of directors, the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) found.
During her tenure as chairwoman of the AP board of directors (2021-2024), the engineering firm also received three new contracts totaling $1.3 million, and previous contracts received 35 amendments, adding $1.2 million.
Additionally, while the engineer was chairwoman of the ACT board of directors, the public corporation amended a $2.4 million contract she signed in 2018 as a representative of Kimley-Horn seven times to extend the agreement’s validity.
Photo provided
According to the OEG opinion document, the former secretary stated in her letter that during her term at DTOP, she did not intervene in any contracts of the public corporations affiliated with DTOP, nor had any interaction with Kimley-Horn as part of her duties.
In its response to the former secretary’s query, the OEG warns that although there are no issues with her returning to work with the engineering firm, she must abstain, for two years, “from offering information, intervening, cooperating, advising in any way, or representing directly or indirectly, a private person, business, or public entity before the agency for which she worked.” The restriction is specifically for DTOP, and there is no mention of abstaining from advising or representing the company before the Highway and Transportation Authority or Ports Authority.
When the CPI asked the OEG why the prohibitions on interaction were not extended to both public corporations, the executive assistant to director Luis Pérez Vargas, Aidny M. Serrano Vázquez, clarified that the prohibitions and limitations imposed on Vélez Vega should also apply to ACT and AP as public corporations affiliated with DTOP.
“The former secretary was advised that she cannot appear in any agency for which she worked, which includes any other agency where she held a position or designation,” Serrano Vázquez added in a written statement. “If the former secretary submitted incorrect information or fails to comply with our restrictions, the Office may initiate an administrative investigation for violations of our Organic Law.”
The OEG reiterated that there is no conflict in the engineer working at Kimley-Horn because, although she chaired the AP and ACT boards of directors, she was not the person who signed those contracts or their extensions; other officials of the public corporations carried out the contracting actions.
Kimley-Horn has five active contracts with the AP, one for capital improvement advisory related to airport infrastructure services and three others for work at the Isla Grande, Vieques, Culebra, and Ceiba airports. All expire on June 25, 2025. Some of these contracts responded to proposals submitted by Vélez Vega as a representative of Kimley-Horn and are attached to the contract.
Returning to Her Former Employer
“Kimley-Horn Puerto Rico, LLC, a leading engineering, planning, and design consultancy, continues its expansion and impact in strategic infrastructure consulting by welcoming Eileen M. Vélez Vega, PE, back to the company,” the firm announced in a press release at the end of January. “Eileen recently concluded her distinguished tenure as secretary of the Department of Transportation and Public Works of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (DTOP), notably being the first woman to hold this position.”
According to the press release, Vélez Vega worked in the airport infrastructure area at Kimley-Horn.
Despite the press release stating that “Eileen will leverage Kimley-Horn’s efforts to shape the future of transportation, public works, and infrastructure development in the United States, the Caribbean, and Puerto Rico,” in her enquiry to the OEG, Vélez Vega noted that her duties will not require her to appear before DTOP or communicate with its officials for the next two years, although that agency is responsible for Puerto Rico’s highways infrastructure.
According to a job posting by Kimley-Horn published just over a month ago on LinkedIn, the goal of recruiting a director of strategic infrastructure was to “expand” their business in Puerto Rico.
Among the requirements for the position is having established relationships with the local Department of Transportation, government agencies, and municipalities.
CPI asked Vélez Vega how she could abstain from contacting DTOP officials and meet Kimley-Horn’s expectation of expanding in the transportation and public works area in Puerto Rico. However, the engineer did not directly answer the question.
“Since I completed my term as DTOP secretary on December 31, 2024, I have followed the [Government Ethics] Law and sought guidance from the Office of Government Ethics [of Puerto Rico],” the civil engineer limited herself to saying in writing. The former secretary added that she had requested a waiver from the OEG.
Vélez Vega has experience and a particular interest in airport infrastructure, and as she told the press, before leading DTOP, she was dedicated to research for military airport pavements when she worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Mississippi. While working at Kimley-Horn before becoming secretary, she was especially dedicated to runway design and airport infrastructure.
Kimley-Horn Conducts Studies for Esencia Development
The engineering firm for which Vélez Vega now works conducted energy storage and wastewater management studies last summer for Cabo Rojo Lands Acquisition LLC, which are necessary for the approval of the multimillion-dollar Esencia residential-tourism project in Cabo Rojo.
As part of both studies, Kimley-Horn also participated in preparing the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project that the corporation submitted in 2024 to the Permits Management Office, a document detailing the environmental consequences of the proposed development in the Boquerón neighborhood in this southwestern Puerto Rico municipality.
The consultancy and engineering company specifically conducted the EIS study on the potential wastewater treatment system to be developed as part of the project. The treatment of these waters in the coastal area has raised concerns among environmental groups about the damage that water purification can cause to coral reefs. Organizations like AmandOcéano have warned about the impact chlorine typically used to disinfect wastewater can have on corals when the resort becomes operational.
Image taken from the draft Environmental Impact Statement of the Esencia project.
The Comité Caborrojeño Pro-Salud y Ambiente (Caborrojeño Committee for Health and Environment) and the Comité por la Verdadera Esencia (Committee for the True Essence) have also drawn attention to the risk the reefs would face with the proposed development. In this area of Cabo Rojo, there is one of the few ecosystems of this type in Puerto Rico, a vital mitigation barrier in the face of the climate crisis.
The Esencia project in Cabo Rojo contemplates hotel, recreational, and tourism-residential uses once completed, according to the environmental document submitted by Cabo Rojo Land Acquisition, LLC. The development proposes the construction of 530 hotel rooms, 1,132 tourist residences, a school with 500 dormitories for students, two golf courses, recreational areas, medical service, entertainment, commercial spaces, and landscape areas. The project also includes vehicular access to the beach with sanitary facilities.
Luis Joel Méndez González is a member of Report for America.
