Dear New Yorkers

In Fiscal Year 2022, City of New York procured $12 billion in services from nonprofits, serving millions of New Yorkers. The City contracts with a vast array of nonprofits to provide and supplement essential services to residents: our library systems, homeless service providers, hospitals, arts organizations, day care providers, after-school programs, violence interrupters, job training, affordable housing, the list goes on and on.

One thing, alas, that all these organizations have in common is that it takes them far too long to get paid by the City for the work they do. The City of New York requires organizations to navigate complex, multi-step processes that often mean services are provided for months, and even years, before payment – an untenable situation for many organizations. We wouldn’t ask our firefighters to work for months without pay, but that’s exactly what we ask of the organizations that run after-school programs. 

Dramatically improving this system has long been a top priority of mine. So even before I was sworn into office, I reached out to then Mayor-elect Adams to address it together. Last week I testified to the City Council about the progress we’ve made in the year since Mayor Adams and I released the recommendations of our joint taskforce to address longstanding delays in contracting with the city’s nonprofit human service providers.

Over the past year, City Hall, the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services, City agencies, and the Comptroller’s office have made meaningful on several of the recommendations of our non-profit task force:

• Our joint “Clear the Backlog” initiative, a months-long, all hands effort across agencies last summer and fall, cleared over 4,000 backlogged contracts, unlocking over $4 billion in late payments for services rendered.
   
• The Mayor’s Office of Contract Services brought PASSPort Public online, making it possible for the first time for organizations and members of the public to see where contracts are in the processing and registration process.
   
• Agencies have been empowered to add an allowance of up to 25%, to account for potential changes such as cost of living adjustments or indirect cost rate increases, without needing to wait for months of review. 
   
• Under the leadership of Deputy Comptroller for Contracting and Procurement Charlette Hamamgian, our office has been registering contracts in record time. The Comptroller's office is responsible for the last step in the procurement process: reviewing contracts to determine that procurement rules were followed and there was no corruption in the awarding of the contract. But rather than take the 30 days the statute allows (the only part of the procurement process with a firm deadline), we review and register human service contracts within half that time. 

There is, of course, still a very long way to go. There is no one silver bullet, and instead many steps must be taken to achieve the goal of a reasonable contract processing and registration timeline. Some of the key next steps include transparency and oversight of how long each step of the contracting process takes to identify bottlenecks at the many agencies involved and passing legislation in Albany that will speed up the process for capital contracts. 

The changes we are making not only have the potential to dramatically reduce how long nonprofits are waiting for their payments, but also reduce needless bureaucracy, while improving transparency, integrity, and good government.

Since I took office, my team and I have worked hard to do what is in our power to speed up the contract process for nonprofits and other critical vendors that serve the city. New Yorkers, and the day care centers, libraries, and food banks who serve them, depend on it.

Onwards,

Brad