New York City Comptroller Brad Lander on Tuesday issued the Preventing Corruption in Procurement report, a blueprint to tackle corruption in various government sectors across the city.
The report includes four recommendations that would deter corruption by municipal officials and service providers bidding for contracts, according to a press release.
The recommendations include the strengthening of oversight, transparency and accountability, a lack of which has repeatedly resulted in contractors starting work without undergoing the vetting processes, according to the press release.
Lander called on the implementation of ContractStat, a performance management system, that indicates the causes of delays, which could help direct oversight efforts to clear backlogs.
"New York City relies on contractors for many of our basic services — from childcare and home-delivered meals for seniors, to school construction and technology — so we must be able to count on city agencies to conduct fair and transparent bidding, without favoritism, and make sure we’re getting what we pay for. But right now, we increasingly rely on no-bid contracts, and much of the time we don’t even know which subcontractors we’re paying. This is an urgent moment for change," he said.
He added that service providers were the bedrock of New York City's service provision and called on the city to ensure that they acted with integrity to prevent wasteful expenditure of taxpayer's resources.
The comptroller said stringent measures were necessary for the city which entered into 12,820 new procurement contracts in the 2023 financial year, valued at $38.22 billion, higher than the budgets of 30 states.
