Comptroller DiNapoli Ensures State Procurements Provide the Highest Value to New Yorkers
For more than a century, the Comptroller’s Office has conducted independent, pre-review of State and limited Public Authority contacts, adding transparency to the process and resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for taxpayers each year. As government contracting expands in size, scope and complexity this oversight is more important than ever.
The Comptroller's contract oversight extends to most State agency contracts, generally those where the contract value exceeds $50,000. The Comptroller may also review State public authority contracts valued at more than $1 million if they are either awarded noncompetitively or paid in whole or in part from State appropriations. In addition, any State agency seeking to waive competitive bidding and receive an exemption from its statutory requirement to advertise a procurement opportunity in the New York State Contract Reporter must first receive approval from the Comptroller's Office.
Benefits of the Comptroller’s Review
Promotes fair competition to ensure the best price and overall value for the State
Detects fraud and waste before tax dollars are spent
Confirms funding availability so that agencies do not overspend
Verifies vendor responsibility
Adds transparency to the process
Review Has Little Impact on the Overall Time Frame of Procurements
Comptroller DiNapoli's procurement experts and legal team are sensitive to agency deadlines and the State’s business needs and understand that delays can cost New York’s taxpayers and businesses money, keep workers idle, and harm not-for-profits.
2025 Results Demonstrate Cost-Effective Oversight
28,813
Total Agency Contracts Received
7.85 Days
Average Time for Contract Review
89%
Reviewed Within 15 Days
Average Days to Review Contracts
Value of Contracts Reviewed by Calendar Year
Less Than 1 Percent of Contracts Take Longer Than 45 Days to Review
The very small percentage of contracts completed after the 31 day timeframe are generally due to complex procurements and/or protest procurements.
Tools and Dashboards
Search All Contracts
Search over 240,000 contracts that State agencies have with businesses, not-for-profit organizations and other governmental entities in effect April 1, 2012, or later. Includes contracts subject to the Comptroller’s review and approval and those that are not.
View Breakdown of Contracts by Agency/Authority or Type
Search and sort contracts by agency/authority, vendor and contract type.
Contract Review Highlights
Finding Opportunities to Renegotiate and Save Costs
The Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) submitted a contract amendment to increase the total contract value due to an estimated increase in conversion services of Dynamic Notices to alternate formats such as large print, audio files or braille. While reviewing the cost reasonableness, the Comptroller’s team identified the opportunity for more favorable rates due to the estimated volume increase and requested that OTDA engage the vendor to negotiate the rates. OTDA successfully negotiated a 7.5% rate reduction which OTDA estimated will result in a potential savings of $2,251,138.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) submitted a contract amendment to exercise the first of two allowable one-year contract extensions for technical assistance to increase food scrap reduction and recycling. The Comptroller’s review identified that the rate increases were greater than the allowable contract escalation terms. Therefore, the Comptroller’s office requested DEC engage the vendor to obtain escalation rate increases aligned with the terms of the contract. The contract was non-approved and subsequently re-submitted with rate increases aligned with the terms of the contract, which resulted in savings of $30,449.
Identifying Costly Errors and Contract Duplication
The State University of New York - Agency Wide submitted a purchase for cloud license subscriptions from the Office of General Services’ Centralized Information Technology Umbrella Contract. The Comptroller’s review identified the inclusion of duplicative fees for unanticipated enhancements. These fees are not allowed for cloud product purchases per the terms of the Office of General Services contract. The contract was non-approved and resubmitted without the fees, resulting in an estimated savings of $4,312,324.
The City University of New York – Baruch College submitted a transaction for security guard services from the Office of General Services Centralized Security Guard Services Contract. The review by the Comptroller’s team identified that the estimated prevailing wage increases were calculated incorrectly. The contract was non-approved and resubmitted with corrected calculations resulting in a savings of $945,285.
Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Vendors
The State University of New York Health Science Center at Stony Brook submitted submitted a contract for construction of a new residence hall that increased the field order allowance after the bids were received. Allowing an increase after bidding would be inappropriate and unfair to other bidders. The transaction was returned and subsequently resubmitted reflecting the lower cost from the original bid, reducing the contract value by $2,277,100.
The New York State Department of Health (DOH) submitted a request for a no-bid procurement for the removal and disposal of expired personal protective equipment and diagnostic testing supplies, identifying that it would not be feasible to advertise The Office of the State Comptroller reviewed the justification and the available vendor market place and identified there are multiple vendors that provide these services. The request was denied and DOH was directed to competitively bid the services. DOH subsequently bid the services and submitted a purchase order that was $135,287 lower than the proposed no-bid procurement.