Comptroller Stringer Files Suit Against Mayor de Blasio to Restore Full Charter-Mandated Oversight of Contracts and Procurement
Following repeated unanswered requests to revoke emergency procurement powers over a year after going into effect, Comptroller Stringer files suit against the City to fully restore all procurement laws and regulations
While other emergency orders have been revoked as the City reopens, Mayor de Blasio has issued more than one hundred emergency executive orders to extend the procurement suspensions in EEO 101 – including as recently as last week – and the City has registered more than $6.9 billion in COVID-19-related contracts and contract actions to procure goods, services and construction – all without Comptroller oversight
EEO 101’s prolonged suspension of the Comptroller’s contract registration powers blocks the Charter-mandated responsibility to provide checks and balances against misuse, mismanagement, waste and fraud
(New York, NY) — Today, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer filed a lawsuit against the City of New York and Mayor Bill de Blasio in the Supreme Court of the State of New York to fully rescind Emergency Executive Order (EEO) 101, Section 2, which suspended laws and regulations related to procurement since March 17, 2020, and to restore all Charter-mandated procurement laws and regulations. The Mayor has issued more than one hundred emergency executive orders that extended the suspensions in EEO 101 allowing the City to self-register more than $6.9 billion in COVID-19-related contracts and contract actions to procure goods, services and construction, all without charter-mandated oversight by the Office of the Comptroller. This exposed the City to widespread procurement failures, including overpayment and over-purchasing in this category of purported “emergency” contracting amounting to millions in wasted taxpayer dollars. In addition, certain contracts simply did not merit COVID-19 emergency approval. The suit cites examples of these procurement irregularities, including contracts with PC Richards & Sons, Jamaica Hardware, Global Medical Supply Group, Digital Gadgets, Cariati Developers, and Genuine Parts Company.
The Comptroller has made repeated unheeded attempts to restore normal procurement practices, including four letters sent to the Administration in August 2020, October 2020, March 2021, and June 2021. On June 25, 2021, Governor Cuomo ended the New York State disaster emergency and that week the Mayor himself revoked a number of executive orders related to the pandemic, including Section 1 of EEO 101 but continues to extend the procurement suspensions in Section 2. With no end in sight, Comptroller Stringer had no recourse but to file the suit to restore checks and balances on City contracting to protect taxpayers against misuse, mismanagement, waste and fraud.
In the petition to the Court, Comptroller Stringer emphasized that the Legislature intended that emergency orders be limited and temporary in nature and, as such, any suspension of local laws and rules can only last five days, subject to review and renewal. Despite the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and economic shutdown of the city’s economy, at this time any continuing justification for suspending the Charter and the New York City Procurement Policy Board (PPB) Rules no longer exists as the supply chain issues that affected the country are largely resolved and the overcrowding of City hospitals is no longer a threat to public safety. The suit argued that the Mayor’s continued failure to reconsider these facts and changing circumstances is arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and in violation of lawful procedure – placing the financial wellbeing of the City at risk and undermining public trust in the procurement process.
“Mayor de Blasio’s ongoing suspension of procurement rules continues to expose the City to waste and fraud. Over 15 months after this order was first issued, there is no excuse for this flagrant violation of the Charter and affront to the basics of good government. Enough is enough — my office is faced with no other option than to take legal action to re-establish the checks and balances that exist to protect taxpayer dollars,” said Comptroller Stringer. “As we work toward a strong post-pandemic recovery, the Mayor cannot continue to enable unscrupulous spending, unvetted vendors, and misuse of taxpayer dollars. New Yorkers deserve real accountability — I urge the Mayor to finally make this right.”
The Petition also demands that the City provide the Comptroller’s Office with complete contract packages in order for the Office to fulfill its responsibility to maintain, file, and certify all such documents. To date, the City has failed to provide the Comptroller’s Office with documents and information in a format sufficient to enable the Office to confirm that the Contract Packages are complete or to transfer them to the Comptroller Office’s existing repository.
To read the petition filed by the Comptroller’s Office in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, click here.
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