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NEWS from the Office of the New York State Comptroller
Contact: Press Office 518-474-4015

        

DiNapoli Announces State Contract and Payment Actions for May 2016

June 22, 2016

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced today his office approved 1,636 contracts valued at $1.99 billion and approved nearly 2.2 million payments worth nearly $10.3 billion in May.  His office also rejected 176 contracts and related transactions valued at $180 million and more than 2,000 payments valued at nearly $5.7 million due to fraud, waste or other improprieties.

Cumulatively through May for calendar year 2016, DiNapoli’s office has approved 7,918 contracts valued at $28.6 billion and approved nearly 16.6 million payments worth nearly $63 billion.  His office has also rejected 937 contracts and related transactions valued at $7 billion and more than 28,000 payments valued at nearly $48.8 million.

As the state’s chief financial officer, DiNapoli’s office reviews contracts for all state agencies and certain state public authorities and audits all state payments.  This independent review ensures that costs are reasonable, the playing field is level and taxpayers get the best value for their money.  These independent audits also help ensure payments are free from fraud, waste and improprieties.  The Comptroller’s office averaged 7.5 days for contract reviews in May and two days to audit payments.

DiNapoli releases this monthly notice to provide current information about the number and types of contracts and payments by the state. This builds on his commitment to added transparency via his Open Book New York website.

Major Contracts Approved

Unified Court System

  • $1.4 million with the National Conference of Bar Examiners for the July 2017 bar exam materials.
  • $626,000 with the Jacob Javits Convention Center Operating Corp. for meeting room space for the July 2016 bar exam.

Governor’s Office of Employee Relations

  • $57.5 million with Nationwide Retirement Solutions to administer the state’s Deferred Compensation Plan.

Office of General Services

  • $32 million for 14 contracts for concrete and asphalt for the Department of Transportation, including $10 million with Hanson Aggregates New York LLC, $7.6 million with Barrett Paving Materials Inc. and $2.2 million with Peckham Road Corp.

Department of Health

  • $255.3 million with Twin Med LLC for incontinence products to Medicaid providers.
  • $64.3 million for 12 Alzheimer’s disease-related grants.
  • $23.2 million with Optum Government Solutions Inc. for the “All Payer” database project.

Office of Temporary and Disability Services

  • $20.8 million for 27 Supportive Housing Program grants, including $1.8 million to New Destiny Housing Corp., $1.7 million to The Guidance Center of Westchester Inc. and $1.7 million to Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council. 
  • $1.8 million for targeted assistance grants including $873,000 to Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, $442,000 to Catholic Charities Community Services and $442,000 to Goodwill Industries of Greater NY and Northern NJ Inc.

Thruway Authority

  • $21.6 million with Villager Construction Inc. for road improvements in LeRoy, Genesee County.
  • $17.8 million with Rifenberg Construction Inc. for highway rehabilitation in Albany and Schenectady counties.
  • $7.5 million with Callanan Industries Inc. for pavement improvements in Columbia County.
  • $7.2 million with Callanan Industries Inc. for road improvements in Schenectady and Montgomery counties.
  • $6.5 million with Oakgrove Construction Inc. for road improvements in Erie County.
  • $2.6 million with Ben Ciccone Inc. for miscellaneous work at the Ardsley Service Area in Westchester County.

Department of Transportation

  • $152 million with Lancaster Development and Tully Construction for I-81 and NY 17 Interchange reconstruction.
  • $92 million for 20 highway construction contracts.
  • $62.7 million for nine bridge replacement, repair and preservation contracts.
  • $20.2 million with Peter Scalamandre & Sons Inc. for construction of the Long Island Expressway Welcome Center.
  • $10 million to Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority for capacity improvements.

Major Payments Approved

Tax Refunds

  • $800.8 million for 632,000 personal income tax refunds.
  • $70.7 million for 36,000 corporate and other refunds.
  • $3.6 million for 17,000 property tax freeze credits.

Department of Agriculture and Markets

  • $673,000 to the NYS Federation of Growers and Processors for migrant workers’ child care.
  • $123,000 to Milk for Health on the Niagara Frontier to promote dairy in the Buffalo area. 

Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services

  • $64,000 to OPAD Media Solutions LLC for the Prescription Drug Abuse Campaign. 

Empire State Development Corporation 

  • $4.4 million to USA Niagara Development Corp. for the purchase of Hotel Niagara in downtown Niagara Falls. 

Gaming Commission

  • $11.4 million to 11 local governments for tribal compact payments.

Office of General Services

  • $5.5 million for hourly-based IT services, including $1.5 million to MVP Consulting Plus Inc., $1.3 million to GCom Software Inc., and $905,000 to NTT Data Inc.
  • $3.9 million to The Wesson Group LLC to expand Midway and RV Sites at the State Fairgrounds in Syracuse.
  • $3.1 million to Albany Convention Center Authority for the Albany Capital Center Project.

Department of Health

  • $16.4 million to Maximus Inc. and $14 million to Computer Sciences Corporation for work on the state’s Health Benefit Exchange.

New York State Legislature – Assembly

  • $7,000 to Zuckerman Spaeder LLP to represent the state Assembly in the investigation of Assemblyman Sheldon Silver. 

Office of Mental Health

  • $570,000 to the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York for construction and rehabilitation services for state psychiatric centers.

Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

  • $649,000 to Kelco Construction Inc. to install irrigation systems at Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park.
  • $81,000 to CHA Consulting Inc. for engineering services for the Palisades, Saratoga, and Taconic State Park regions.

State University Construction Fund

  • $11.6 million to LP Ciminelli Inc. for construction of the University of Buffalo’s School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. 

State University of New York

  • $18,000 to EYP Architecture and Engineering PC to provide consulting services for SUNY Geneseo’s Energy Master Plan project. 

Department of Transportation

  • $15.6 million to Skanska-Kiewit-Ecco III JV to replace the Kosciuszko Bridge. 
  • $1.1 million to CHA Consulting Inc. for consulting services, including $801,000 for high-speed rail design.

Payment Rejections and Other Cost Recoveries

The Comptroller’s rejection of more than 2,000 payments valued at nearly $5.7 million included nearly 1,400 tax refunds valued at more than $2.3 million. DiNapoli’s auditors also recovered nearly $113,000 from vendors owing debts to the state, and held payments of more than $3.5 million pending resolution of disputes between subcontractors and prime contractors.

For access to state and local government spending, public authority financial data and information on 50,000 state contracts, visit Open Book New York. The easy-to-use website was created to promote transparency in government and provide taxpayers with better access to financial data.