An audit from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli has found that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has fallen short of achieving promised savings through consolidating its procurement processes.
The MTA, which spends over $7 billion annually on procurement ranging from construction contracts to office supplies, was mandated under the Public Authorities Law to create a Transformation Plan that streamlines procurement processes across its five operating agencies by June 2019,
DiNapoli said the MTA could save more money consolidating procurements than if it purchases goods independently.
“The MTA faces continued pressure to implement its capital programs and savings initiatives, which would benefit from furthering its stated goals of transforming its procurement process,” DiNapoli said through a press release. “More savings may be possible if it does more to coordinate purchasing among its agencies instead of the status quo of having them procure their needs independently. Consolidation, efficiency, and savings in this area was promised years ago, but has yet to be fully realized.”
The audit found that purchasing practices had not significantly changed as of September 2023 two years after the consolidation went into effect. The audit highlighted that MTA’s four procurement units: Procurement Operations, Material Management and Distribution, Supply Chain Strategy and Rolling Stock Strategy remain largely decentralized, with redundancies persisting.
DiNapoli’s report recommended that the MTA define specific initiatives tied to its Transformation Plan to ensure that it is able to track progress. It also urged the agency to identify cost savings and develop standardized procurement procedures across its divisions to enhance efficiency.
The MTA denied this and said it was not required to disclose which savings emanated from the Transformation Plan.
