The new regulations, first enacted in June 2019, are part of the MTA’s attempt at cutting costs and waste from the agency’s construction process, particularly since it is about to embark on a five-year, $51.5 billion plan to upgrade and expand the city’s transit systems. As lawmakers were considering the mammoth package, the MTA’s biggest ever, there was concern that the agency is not as effective as it could be in both managing its contractors and overseeing project budgets.