Comptroller's Oversight of State Contracts

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Contracts by the Numbers 2024 Chart Update

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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.

2024 Year-to-Date Results Demonstrate Cost-Effective Oversight


12,009

Total Agency Contracts Received



7.28 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.

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Contract Review Highlights

Finding Opportunities to Renegotiate and Save Costs

The Department of Health requested a one-year extension to their behavioral risk factor surveillance system contract to allow for additional time to finalize a new procurement for these services. The extension also included an increase in rates. The Comptroller's office requested DOH to renegotiate the rates for the extension period, resulting in a reduction of over $50,000.

The Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) submitted a request for a one-year extension of their Medicaid recovery services contract. The rates for the extension year were higher than the rates offered in bids on other recent procurements. Therefore, the Comptroller’s office requested that OMIG renegotiate the rates resulting in an estimated savings of $3,300,000.

Identifying Costly Errors and Contract Duplication

The State University of New York at Stony Brook submitted a lease amendment where the Comptroller’s review identified the rent abatement was incorrectly applied. The transaction was non-approved, and a corrected amendment was submitted, saving the State $1,161,024.

 

The Office of General Services (OGS) submitted a purchase order for security system upgrades at a Department of Corrections and Community Supervision location in Albany County. The Comptroller’s team identified that the work was already included in the original lease as part of the landlord’s obligation, therefore the purchase order was non-approved, saving the State $246,238.  

Ensuring a Level Playing Field for Vendors

The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision submitted a contract amendment to add additional costs to an approved purchase order for vehicles. Allowing an increase after bidding would be inappropriate and unfair to other bidders. The agency requested the transaction be returned and the amendment was non-approved. 

 

The State University of New York - Health Science Center at Brooklyn submitted a transaction against an Office of General Services’ centralized contract for furniture which includes an additional fee not permitted by the OGS centralized contract.  Allowing non-contract items and a fee increase would be unfair to the other centralized contract vendors offering similar products on the same terms and conditions. This transaction was non-approved.