BOSTON (AP) – Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, who with Gov. Mitt Romney teed off on Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff following a fatal Big Dig tunnel collapse last summer, said Tuesday it was “deeply disturbing” the same firm had been engaged recently to inspect repairs to the accident scene.

Amid a day of damage control as Romney continued his presidential exploratory travel, Healey – serving as acting governor – met with Transportation Secretary John Cogliano and told him to halt any involvement by Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff in the inspections.

“It is not acceptable for Bechtel engineers to participate in any inspections,” Healey, a Republican now running for governor herself, told reporter in Worcester. “They do not direct or have oversight over any inspections of the tunnels.”

Healey added: “This is a situation that is deeply disturbing to us.”

Deval Patrick, her Democratic gubernatorial opponent, seized on the revelation, saying, “We’ve had a series of recreational administrations, governors and, to some extent, lieutenant governors, who have wanted to have the job but not actually do the job.”

Patrick added: “This is the biggest public works project in American history, and what we have seen is consistently shoddy leadership and management, and that has got to change – and if the voters give me a chance, it will.”

The Boston Herald reported in Tuesday’s editions that the Romney administration had asked the company to help inspect repairs to the Interstate 90 connector. That tunnel, part of the $14.6 billion project that buried Boston’s Central Artery, is where 39-year-old Milena Del Valle of Boston was killed July 10 in the ceiling collapse.

Investigators suspect bolts held into place with an epoxy compound may have slipped free, freeing the panels. New design and construction firms are repairing the problem with additional hangers, bigger brackets and more numerous “undercut” anchor bolts that do not rely on epoxy.

“We were asked by EOT (the Executive Office of Transportation) for professional assistance, and we’ll do what we’re asked to help support the reopening of the tunnel,” Andy Paven, a spokesman for Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, said in a statement.

Paven noted that despite public criticism of the company, none of the agencies investigating the ceiling panel collapse has reached any finding.

Yet the involvement of Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, which is the among the entities being investigated by state and federal authorities, ran counter to Romney’s criticisms of the company in the aftermath of the collapse.

“When it comes to an issue of inspecting the tunnel system, to have the person who’s been responsible for it for the last several years say, ‘I’m going to inspect it’ and tell us, ‘It’s now safe,’ that’s not enough. The public wants to see an independent inspection effort,” the governor said July 13.

At another point, when Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff engineers questioned whether tests Romney approved for ceiling bolts could be damaging the bolts themselves, the governor replied: “I must admit, at a time like this, Bechtel isn’t real credible on safety.”

Romney was out of state Tuesday continuing a trip that took him to Utah over the weekend, California on Monday and Nevada on Tuesday. His office would not say when he will return. The Republican chief executive is considering a White House run in 2008.

Eric Fehrnstrom, the governor’s communications director, said in a statement: “While they have some work to do under their existing contract, Bechtel should have no involvement in the I-90 connector remedial work or on the stem to stern safety review, no matter how minimal.”

Cogliano said in an interview with The Associated Press that Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff had “two or three” people working in the I-90 tunnel since the summer, but the total had grown to five engineers and 12-15 support staff in recent weeks.

He would not explain who hired the firm, saying only, “I take full responsibility.”

The secretary added: “There was no purpose to have them there.”

Rep. Joseph Wagner, D-Chicopee, House chairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation, said he was “shocked” by the news. “I’m curious to know if the Bechtel officials are being paid out of the $20 million appropriation that we provided legislatively to ensure that this work gets done,” Wagner said.

Cogliano said the firm was not.

In morning remarks to foreign tour operators meeting in Boston, Patrick said the news was an example of the administration saying one thing but doing another.

The Big Dig itself “ought to be a tourist destination,” he said, but instead is actually being used to hurt tourism.

“I know that all over the world now the Big Dig and the calamities around the Big Dig are being used to market by our competitors for why folks shouldn’t come to Boston,” Patrick said.

Healey later told reporters she had spoken to Romney. “We are certainly on top of this issue,” she said.

The lieutenant governor added: “Bechtel is in the penalty box. They should not be participating in the remediation process in any way. They do not have a place in the tunnels.”

AP-ES-10-24-06 1719EDT