Due to haphazard planning, weak project management, ballooning costs, poor coordination between agencies, and too little transparency, City capital projects take too long, cost too much, and deliver too little. Improving the capital projects procurement process is critical to ensuring City dollars are spent efficiently to deliver the infrastructure New Yorkers need.
Every fiscal year, the City releases a capital program that anticipates billions of dollars in spending, but then falls well short of its own projections and timelines. Within the last ten years, the City has hit no more than 75% of its capital target, and some years has been below 50%.
Using a dataset assembled by the Comptroller’s Office, the Comptroller’s Office further analyzed the City’s capital plans from 2004 to 2022 to compare budgets against actual spending and analyze delays in project starts and deliver. We found that:
- Nearly 64% of projects experienced either delayed starts and/or took longer than planned
- 45% of ongoing projects were taking longer than planned at the time of the analysis
- 33% of completed projects and 46% of ongoing projects are over budget
The timely completion of capital projects helps reduce capital costs. By cross-referencing start delays and duration extensions with project budget performance, we found that 84% of the projects that were delivered on time were also delivered on budget. Conversely, elongated project timelines extend the amount of time crews and equipment are onsite, driving up project costs. Delayed starts did not always correlate to budget overruns, but the worst offenders were projects that had both delayed starts and extended schedules, which were over budget 63.3% of the time.
Budget Status of Capital Projects
| Budget Status | On Time | Delayed Start | Longer Duration | Delayed Start and Longer Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Within Budget | 84.0% | 68.4% | 50.7% | 36.7% |
| Over Budget | 16.0% | 31.6% | 49.3% | 63.3% |
Capital Projects Tracker
Capital projects are the beating heart of our city’s infrastructure. Every bridge we repair, every park we build, every public school facility we renovate helps improve and enrich our shared lives as New Yorkers. To bring much-needed transparency to what’s going on with the City’s capital spending, the Comptroller’s Office partnered with the Mayor to launch the first comprehensive Capital Projects Tracker. The Comptroller has long pushed for creating a user-friendly public tool that details all projects from capital agencies since he sponsored and passed Local Law 37 (2020) as a Council Member. The tracker provides a detailed view into the City’s capital projects, including the total cost, current phase, and projected completion dates that will ultimately help to increase accountability, efficiency, inter-agency coordination, and keep projects on time and on budget.
NYC Capital Process Reform Task Force
The Capital Process Reform Task Force, convened first by outgoing First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo and now led by Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi, has identified and begun to implement recommendations to improve infrastructure delivery. These reforms will enable the City to strengthen the project pipeline, streamline approvals, manage projects more effectively, reform procurement, and grow the number of New Yorkers who can participate. The City’s Department of Design and Construction, which is responsible for a substantial share of construction for DOT, DEP, Parks, libraries, and other agencies, continues to implement its Blueprint to improve capital project delivery (e.g. piloting the use of “Design-Build” and other new procurement methods). The Comptroller’s Office joined City Hall in a push to pass critical legislation in Albany that would reduce barriers to these reforms and streamline the procurement process for essential infrastructure.
Superstorm Sandy laid bare the vulnerabilities of New York City’s coastal communities and infrastructure. The storm resulted in the deaths of 43 city residents and caused damages estimated at $19 billion. With the support of the Federal government, the City initiated billions of dollars of investments in recovery and new resiliency infrastructure. These initiatives have gone a long way to repair damaged homes, elevate mechanical and electrical systems, install backup generators, and support the recovery of impacted residents and businesses.
However, a decade later, many of these projects remain far from completion. The Comptroller’s Office analyzed the status of spending for Sandy recovery and coastal resilience. 10 years after the superstorm, only 73% of federal funds have been spent, and many projects remain years behind.