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The company with the contract to bill and collect tolls in Florida has so far been fined millions and more fines could be on the way.

The state said the company, Conduent, is close to being in compliance with its contract.

It has been just over a year since a new toll collection system was put in place by the state’s contractor Conduent.

It was expected to be fully functional by June 11th last year.

It’s still facing problems, but Department of Transportation Secretary Kevin Thibault said the company is closer to living up to its obligations.

“Some of the metrics that they have, even thought the customer response has been a lot better than it has been, it’s still not always up to the metrics,” said Thibault.

Conduent has already been fined $8.3 million and Thibault said more could be on the way.

“When they are sending an invoice, we are asking that we withhold the maximum penalty allowed by the contract, so when they get paid, it is the result of that withholding,” said Thibault.

The maximum the state can withhold is 25 percent, and there’s no limit to how long the state can keep up the pressure.

“As long as they are not meeting their performance expectations,” said Thibault.

The Secretary did say the company is getting very close to meeting all the requirements in its contract, but he wouldn’t put a percentage on their performance.

Thibault said he only spoke to the company once.

“It was very short conversation,” said Thibault. “It was meeting the expectations of the contract and meeting the expectations of our customers. And I made it very clear to the senior leadership of that company that that is out expectation.”

An investigation is ongoing by the state Inspector General to help understand what went wrong and whether there was any wrongdoing by the company or the state.

Prior to June 1st, the state was waiving an administrative fee of $2.50 or more for late fees and penalties, but that waiver has now ended.

At no time were tolls owed ever waived.