Disputed Sumitomo Train Pact Was Signed Last Week : Green Line: Disclosure outrages city officials. Transit commissioners say, however, they can cancel contract.

The executive director of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission last week quietly signed a $128-million contract authorizing a Japanese firm to build a driverless train, despite mounting pressure from local politicians to block the contract, it was disclosed Wednesday.

Calling the action “sneaky and outrageous,” Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said LACTC Executive Director Neil Peterson signed the contract with Sumitomo Corp. on Jan. 9--without informing local officials who complained that the high-tech system might not work and that an American firm should receive the county’s business.

Transportation Commission members contacted Wednesday downplayed the significance of Peterson’s action, saying the contract can be canceled at any time. They said they will decide next Wednesday whether to reopen bidding on the contract and whether to halt plans for the automated trains.

Since the commission decided last month to build the driverless system for the Norwalk-to-El Segundo Green Line and to award the construction contract to Sumitomo, mounting criticism has forced the commission members to rethink their positions.

In that light, Peterson’s action took many officials by surprise.

Yaroslavsky noted that the signing came 24 hours after the City Council voted unanimously to ask that the contract not be executed, and a day before Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) questioned Commission Chairman Ray Grabinski about the controversial rail system.

“Sneaky is not a tough enough word for this,” Yaroslavsky said.

“I believe instinctively that when Mr. Peterson signed that contract he made it more difficult for that contract to be undone.”

Bradley, Peterson and Grabinski were reported out of town and could not be reached for comment.

In a statement, Bradley said he was unaware until Monday that Peterson had signed the contract last week. The mayor said he was “outraged.”

A Bradley spokesman, Bill Chandler, said he did not know why the mayor did not make the information public.

Last month, Bradley was the commission’s chief proponent of the driverless technology, but he voted against granting the contract to Sumitomo, instead pushing for the selection of Utah-based Morrison-Knudsen.

LACTC staff members said they have been under pressure from Sumitomo to sign the contract “as a symbol of good faith.” They added that the contract can be terminated if the commission wants.

Gerry Hertzberg, county Supervisor Gloria Molina’s delegate on the 11-member Transportation Commission, said the contract permits the commission to terminate it “for convenience” at any time, owing Sumitomo only for work done up to that point.

Hertzberg voted against the driverless technology but in favor of Sumitomo.

He predicted that the commission next week will vote to cancel the contract and reopen the bidding under rules that give greater consideration to American firms. The new procedure also would call for bids on both automated and non-automated lines.

Sumitomo spokesman Chuck White said his company “exerted no pressure on LACTC to sign the contract.” He said “expenses have been incurred” by the firm but declined to say whether there are plans to recoup the money if the contract is terminated.

Councilman Joel Wachs said he would ask the LACTC to immediately issue a legal stop order to Sumitomo, based on alleged flaws in the scoring system used to award the contract.

Ed McSpedon, president and chief executive officer of the Rail Construction Corp., the LACTC’s construction arm, said the transit agency was under pressure from Sumitomo to sign the contract “as a symbol of confirmation” of the commission’s controversial December selection of the company.

McSpedon said potential liability costs to the county, should the contract be terminated, would be minimal because Sumitomo was only “10 days into an 800-day job.”

Commission member Don Knabe predicted that the commission will vote to reopen the bidding. Under no circumstances could the commission simply withdraw the contract from Sumitomo and grant it to Morrison-Knudsen, he said.