Dear New Yorkers,

As reported in the New York Times this morning, the Adams Administration just announced that it is cutting ties with the controversial vendor DocGo after my office sounded the alarm on its dubious no-bid contract to provide services to asylum seekers. This is a huge win for New York City taxpayers.

As you may recall, the City’s $432 million no-bid contract with DocGo raised many concerns – which is why my office rejected it last September and subsequently launched a real-time audit into the company.

Among many red flags (including inflating its financial value, interfering with law enforcement, and workplace violations), DocGo is a medical services vendor, NOT a housing, social services, or legal services provider — the very services it was hired to provide to asylum seekers.

Our contract review found little basis for why DocGo was the best contractor for this job, how the exorbitantly high $432 million price tag was reached, and who they planned to subcontract out to for security, hotel, and other services.

The Administration chose to move forward with the contract over my objection. But after months of my office sounding the alarm, I’m relieved that the Adams Administration is now finally coming to its senses and backing away from DocGo.

Still, my office continues to be broadly concerned about the costly emergency contracts the City is using to staff services for immigrants – especially after seeing how poorly the City picked and managed DocGo.

Our recent review of these contracts found the replacement vendor, Garner, to be extremely expensive. Our office will watch closely to ensure that asylum seekers do not see a lapse in services. I urge the Administration to issue an open-ended transition to non-profit organizations to avoid paying for-profit companies millions more than necessary – and wasting precious taxpayer dollars in the process.

The City’s haphazard management of the DocGo contract and others exemplifies the pitfalls of continuing to treat asylum seekers like an emergency for two years. We CAN handle the current arrival of asylum seekers.

Instead of Mayor Adams’ cruel shelter eviction policy, we should focus on the legal services and workforce development that helps immigrants get on their feet, move out of shelter, and find employment. This is by far the quickest, most cost-effective, and most compassionate approach that treats immigrants with dignity and integrates them into our economy.

More soon,

Brad