New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced today the following audits have been issued.
New York City Department of Education (DOE): Custodial Service Contract Procurement and Oversight (2020-N-8)
A not-for-profit corporation affiliated with DOE – New York City School Support Services (NYCSSS) – was created solely to provide custodial services at DOE schools. Auditors found DOE did not fulfill all the elements required to determine if negotiated services – the non-competitive procurement method used to award the custodial services contracts – was in its best interest and did not follow guidelines and submit a detailed cost breakdown of the services to be provided. Also, the contracts did not include performance standards relating to the quality of the work performed.
State Education Department (SED) (Preschool Special Education Audit Initiative): Empowering Minds Therapy Inc. – Compliance With the Reimbursable Cost Manual (2021-S-21)
Empowering Minds is an SED-approved, for-profit special education provider located in Holbrook that provides preschool special education services to children with disabilities who are between 3 and 4 years of age. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015, auditors identified $7,811 in costs that Empowering Minds reported for reimbursement that did not comply with SED requirements.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA): Selected Performance Measures (Follow-Up) (2021-F-26)
An audit issued in January 2020 found that, between Jan. 1, 2015 and August 22, 2018, performance measurements were not consistent and accurate among MTA agencies. There were deficiencies and inconsistencies in the agencies’ methodology and calculations for the performance measures examined. In a follow-up, auditors found that MTA made some progress in addressing the issues identified in the initial report.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority – Long Island Rail Road: Selected Aspects of the M9 Rail Car Project Management (2020-S-50)
In 2013, LIRR awarded a contract to procure new M9 train cars. The contract includes an initial base order of 92 cars with options for an additional 584 M9 cars. In July 2017, LIRR exercised its first option for an additional 110 cars for a total of 202 LIRR M9 cars. Auditors found LIRR was behind schedule for delivery of the initial base order of 92 cars by almost three years and over budget by $8.9 million. LIRR also did not assess or collect liquidated damages of $5.5 million from the contractor for delays as of September 2020.
New York Racing Association: Purchasing and Procurement Practices (2020-S-67)
NYRA does not have adequate monitoring and oversight over its purchasing and procurement process; consequently, sufficient competition is not fully promoted, and overspending may have occurred. Auditors found NYRA made a significant number of purchases without competitive bidding, made over 15,000 transactions under $1,000 each to purchase goods or services from suppliers outside of the approved vendor list and could not provide copies of change orders to support the payment of $787,517 to a construction contractor.
Olympic Regional Development Authority: Compliance With Executive Order 95 (EO 95) (Follow-Up) (2022-F-6)
An audit issued in February 2021 found that ORDA did not have any data published to the state’s Open Data website. In addition, it did not designate a data coordinator, complete a comprehensive catalogue of publishable data, or submit a master schedule of publishable data sets to the Office of Information and Technology Services (ITS). In a follow-up, auditors found ORDA has taken steps to comply with EO 95, including appointing a data coordinator, contacting ITS for guidance, creating a data catalogue, and developing policies related to EO 95.
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