Tuesday, January 27, 2026, 1 p.m. (New York City time), 250 Broadway - 8th Floor - Hearing Room 2
Committee: Committee on Contracts
The Committee on Contracts held its first hearing of the new Council term, chaired by Lincoln Restler, with Speaker Menin delivering opening remarks and introducing her two bills on emergency contracting (30-day limits with comptroller and Law Department approval for renewals, and a 15-day submission deadline) and subcontractor transparency with increased penalties. A third bill, sponsored by Julie Won, would create a transparent, searchable public procurement database. Kim Yu, Director of the Mayor's Office of Contract Services (MOCS) and Chief Procurement Officer, testified, expressing operational concerns about the 30-day cap and 15-day deadline while supporting the goals of the bills and noting existing systems like Passport, Passport Public, and Checkbook. Council Members asked about subcontractor tracking, differing pay rates for identical services, the DocGo contract, and the KPMG audit of asylum seeker spending. Public testimony came from four good-government, legal, and nonprofit witnesses plus one additional commenter, generally supporting the bills while suggesting refinements such as a 90-day emergency term, machine-readable data, and publishing the City's caution list of vendors. No votes were taken.
0:09 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Good
0:09 afternoon and welcome t
0:10 otoday's New York City Council
0:11 hearing for the committee on
0:13 contracts if you would like t
0:15 otestify you must fill out a
0:16 witness slip with one of the
0:18 sergeant at arms at this time
0:20 please silence all electronic
0:21 devices and no 1 approach the
0:23 dais chair we are ready t
0:27 obegin.
0:28 Good morning or no good
0:29 afternoon excuse me it's
0:30 already been a long day my
0:33 name's Lincoln ressler I have
0:35 the great privilege of
0:36 chairing our contracts
0:37 committee and I would firstly
0:38 like to thank our speaker for
0:40 that opportunity and for that
0:41 privilege I'm very grateful
0:42 and it's special to have
0:43 speaker menon at our very
0:45 first contracts committee
0:46 hearing we are joined by our
0:50 majority whip camilla Hanks
0:52 from the north shore and my
0:54 good friend gayle Brewer who
0:55 served with me on gaps and has
0:58 chaired everything else but
0:59 not contracts um as she stated h
1:05 looking forward our
1:06 contracting process and
1:07 creating more transparency
1:09 accountability and fairness in
1:10 City spending our procurement
1:12 process is painfully slow
1:15 rigid and complex and vendors
1:17 especially our nonprofit
1:18 dexcited to dig into thisg t
1:23 morass and I'm grateful once
1:25 again to speaker Menin for the
1:26 opportunity I'm going to turn
1:27 it over to speak in minutes t
1:29 oturn it over to speaker manon
1:30 for her opening statement t
1:31 ostart things off and I just
1:32 want to say how much I
1:34 appreciate the speaker's
1:35 commitment to improving our
1:37 procurement process rooting
1:38 out corruption and identifying
1:39 cost savings the over reliance
1:41 on emergency contracts in
1:43 previous administrations is
1:44 indeed an area that needs
1:45 urgent reform and I commend
1:46 the speaker for making this a
1:48 month one priority thank you
1:50 so much speaker
1:51 . Thank you so much chair and
1:51 I am so excited about this
1:53 committee because I think with
1:54 the goal that we really want
1:56 to have is to try to restore
1:58 people's faith in City
2:00 government and the contracting
2:01 process is opaque to say the
2:03 least and in addition we are
2:05 really focused on ending this
2:09 practice of no bid contracts
2:09 that go on for years and years
2:11 and years where there's no
2:13 competitive bidding so that's
2:14 what I'm really going to focus
2:15 my comments on today so thank
2:17 you chair for convening this
2:19 important hearing our City
2:22 procures over $42 billion in
2:24 goods and services annually
2:25 but the current system is
2:27 characterized by massive gaps
2:30 in transparency and
2:31 accountability in fiscal year
2:34 20 25 over 72% of all City
2:35 contracts were registered late
2:37 meaning work had already begun
2:39 before anyone even signed a
2:42 contract this lack of basic
2:44 administrative discipline
2:45 creates a culture where
2:47 agencies can bypass standard
2:49 contracting procedures and
2:50 quite frankly undermine the
2:52 integrity of our cities
2:53 finances the vulnerabilities
2:55 in our emergency procurement
2:57 system became clear during the
2:59 pandemic the De blasio
3:00 administration used executive
3:02 orders to suspend controller
3:04 oversight entirely and spent
3:05 nearly $7 billion on emergency
3:09 contracts during that pandemic d
3:13 emergency procurement over 100
3:15 times and I just want to be
3:17 clear an emergency means
3:18 something that is of short
3:20 duration an emergency does not
3:22 extend years and years and
3:23 years so we're again are not
3:24 trying to target any one
3:26 particular administration this
3:27 has been happening for a very
3:29 long time in City governments
3:30 and the results have been
3:32 predictable according to on
3:34 ecomptroller audit the
3:34 department of sanitation
3:36 awarded a $14 million food
3:39 distribution contract to a
3:40 company whose owner had
3:41 pleaded guilty to obstructing
3:42 the just one month before
3:44 receiving the contract and
3:46 which had no prior experience
3:48 I want to be no prior
3:50 experience in food delivery.
3:51 That contract was terminated
3:53 after just three weeks due to
3:54 poor performance but not
3:55 before the City paid nearly
4:00 $1.5 million for inadequate
4:00 services we learned the full
4:01 scope of the waste when the
4:02 City tried to recoup some of
4:04 that pandemic spending by
4:05 selling surplus equipment that
4:07 it had purchased approximately
4:12 $224 million worth of covid
4:14 supplies including $12 million
4:17 in unused ventilators still in
4:19 their original packaging where
4:20 auctioned off for roughly
4:23 $500000 or simply just given
4:25 away in fact a junk dealer
4:26 from long island purchased
4:28 those unused ventilators for
4:29 nearly $8 per device this
4:32 amounted to just pennies on
4:34 the dollar unfortunately we
4:35 did not learn from these
4:36 mistakes according to a
4:38 controller report by late 2023 d
4:43 approximately $5.7 billio
4:45 nacross 340 emergency contracts
4:48 related to asylum seeker
4:49 services but the lack of
4:52 coordination with stagg early
4:54 hourly rates for comparable
4:56 positions via varied widely
4:58 from $58 to over $200 per hour
5:03 across different contracts for
5:05 performing literally the exact
5:06 same work that is
5:08 unconscionable later the $43
5:11 2million contract became a
5:13 symbol of everything that is
5:14 wrong with our system this was
5:16 a no bid emergency contract
5:18 awarded to a medical services
5:20 company would literally no
5:22 experience in emergency
5:23 housing when controller lander
5:25 declined to approve the
5:26 contract in September 202
5:29 3citing serious concerns about
5:31 vendor responsibility the
5:33 atoms administration proceeded
5:35 anyway the subsequent
5:37 controller audit audit found
5:38 millions wasted on unused
5:41 hotel rooms unauthorized
5:42 subcontractors who were never
5:43 quite frankly even properly
5:45 vetted and dangerous
5:47 conditions including mold and
5:48 rooms that were housing asylum
5:49 seekers it even led to an
5:51 investigation by the state
5:52 attorney general over the
5:53 scale of the fraud this all
5:55 could have been avoided with a
5:57 proper system of checks and
5:59 balances and competitive
6:00 bidding which and I'm a former
6:02 small business owner any small
6:02 business owner will tell you
6:04 you don't just take the first
6:06 bid you don't use no bid you
6:07 always do competitive bidding
6:08 which drives down the prices
6:10 and make sure that there is
6:12 accountability and
6:13 transparency the controllers
6:15 20 23 report on emergency
6:16 procurement sse further
6:17 revealed systemic failures
6:18 across the board nearly 85% of
6:21 emergency contracts were
6:24 submitted for registratio
6:25 nmore than 30 days after the
6:26 work had already begun which
6:29 means vendors operated for
6:30 months without finalized
6:31 contracts or even proper
6:34 oversight only 20% of
6:37 emergency contracts had
6:38 performance evaluations and
6:39 file and just 3.5% of
6:41 emergency procurement dollars
6:42 were awarded to though these
6:45 numbers represent a system
6:47 that has abandoned basic
6:51 principles of fiscal
6:52 responsibility these two
6:54 crisis is both the covid
6:56 crisis of course and the
6:57 asylum seeker crisis laid bare
6:59 how emergencies are often used e
7:03 to avoid the competitive
7:04 bidding rules that ensure
7:05 taxpayers get a fair deal
7:07 under current law there's no
7:09 time limit on emergency
7:10 contracts so they can go on in
7:13 perpetuity the administration
7:15 can invoke emergency authority
7:17 and operate under suspended
7:19 oversight for months or even
7:20 years on end as we have seen
7:22 my first bill addresses a
7:24 systemic abuse of the
7:25 emergency procurement process
7:26 by limiting emergency
7:27 contracts to 30 day terms and
7:30 requiring a hard 15 day
7:32 deadline for submission to the
7:34 controller we are ensuring
7:36 that any future emergency is
7:37 treated for what it is a
7:38 temporary state of action and
7:40 not a blank check to subvert
7:42 the law the adams
7:43 administration extended
7:45 emergency procurement Powers
7:46 for asylum seekers services
7:47 for over 18 months at a
7:49 certain point that's not an
7:51 emergency anymore it's just a
7:53 workaround to avoid
7:54 competitive bidding the 30 day
7:57 limit forces the
7:58 administration to consider a
8:00 simple question is this still
8:02 an emergency the second bill
8:03 I'm sponsoring targets a lack
8:05 of visibility into
8:07 subcontractor responsibility
8:09 currently prime prime
8:10 contractors can use a web of
8:11 subcontractors to hide
8:12 conflicts of interest or
8:15 provide false information t
8:15 oget a foot in the door we saw
8:17 this with bad landlords like
8:20 David levitin who exploited
8:21 emaintenance and extermination
8:26 companies without any
8:27 competitive bidding whatsoever
8:28 at 20 24 report confirmed that
8:32 these were not isolated
8:34 incidents citing hundreds of
8:35 concerns at City funded
8:36 homeless shelters where
8:38 executives held financial
8:39 stakes in the very
8:41 subcontractors that they were
8:42 hiring the controller also
8:43 found that among 292 emergency
8:48 contracts reviewed only 73 had
8:51 even one approved
8:52 subcontractor recorded in the
8:54 city's tracking systems we
8:54 . Literally don't know who is
8:56 doing the work on most of
8:58 these contracts this
9:00 legislation will finally bring
9:02 these relationships into light
9:03 and sunlight is the best
9:05 disinfectant by requiring
9:06 contractors to disclose the
9:07 names and business addresses
9:09 of every subcontractors
9:11 principal owners there
9:13 business histories in any
9:14 contractual relationships
9:16 between the contractor and the
9:17 subcontractors
9:17 . We are also significantly
9:20 increasing the penalties for
9:22 those who attempt to defraud
9:23 the City
9:24 . The current fines have not
9:25 been updated in decades and
9:27 are often treated as a mere
9:28 cost of doing business this
9:30 bill increases the maximum
9:32 fine for fraudulent statements
9:34 regarding bidders or
9:35 subcontractors to $10000
9:38 0ensuring that lying to the
9:38 City of New York actually
9:40 carries a heavy price in
9:42 closing I want to be clear
9:43 about what these reforms
9:44 represent we have a New
9:46 administration that campaigned
9:48 on transparency and
9:50 accountability and these bills
9:52 give Mayor mamdani the tools
9:53 to respond to future crisis is
9:56 while maintaining the fiscal
9:57 safeguards that New York er's
9:58 deserve and I want to be clear
9:59 on the 30 day bill if we need
10:01 to go beyond 30 day bills
10:03 beyond 30 days are mechanisms
10:04 in the bill to be able to do
10:05 so but in a very responsible
10:08 way but more importantly these
10:10 reforms are about building
10:11 systems that work regardless
10:12 of who occupies City Hall good
10:14 procurement practices
10:15 shouldn't depend on the
10:16 integrity of any individual
10:18 Mayor we owe it to the
10:19 taxpayers to ensure that every
10:21 single dollar spent is tied t
10:23 oa verifiable service and a
10:25 responsible vendor so thank
10:26 you so much and I will turn it
10:28 back over to our contracts
10:29 chair chair ressler
10:30 . Thank you so much speaker
10:31 man and those were I think
10:34 . Really really remarks about
10:36 how much work we have to do t
10:38 oclean up our procurement
10:40 process especially our
10:42 emergency procurement and I
10:43 really am thrilled about the
10:44 legislation to ensure more
10:45 transparency and
10:47 subcontracting where there's
10:48 just been.
10:48 So much shady activity over
10:50 over the years and I think
10:52 this legislation will make a
10:54 big difference I also just
10:55 want to take a moment to thank
10:56 director yu for joining us
10:58 today on relatively short
10:59 notice we really appreciate
11:00 her presence um so we'll be as
11:02 the speaker noted hearing
11:04 three bills relating t
11:05 oemergency contracting the
11:08 first piece of legislation
11:09 proposed by the speaker as she
11:11 noted would limit emergency
11:13 contracts to 30 days and
11:15 require controller and
11:17 corporation council approval
11:18 for renewal h's
11:19 . The bill bill is also
11:20 proposed by the speaker would
11:22 require detailed tracking of
11:23 subcontractors on all
11:23 contracts and increase
11:24 penalties for false statements
11:27 tenfold the third bill
11:28 proposed by our former
11:31 contracts chair Julie Julie
11:32 Wong who did a great job
11:33 leading this committee would
11:34 create a transparent
11:36 searchable public procurement
11:37 database so New York er's can
11:38 see how their money is being
11:39 spent at every stage of the
11:41 contracting process emergency
11:43 contracting has increased
11:43 dramatically over the past
11:45 several years from covid t
11:46 othe asylum seeker crises we
11:48 saw endless emergency
11:49 executive orders under the two
11:51 previous administrations that
11:52 resulted in thousands of
11:54 emergency procurements
11:55 thousands of emergency
11:56 procurements gosh during the
11:57 asylum seeker emergency under
11:58 Eric adams there were over 303
12:02 340 emergency contracts
12:03 totaling $5.7 billion
12:06 unfortunately these contracts
12:07 have resulted in numerous
12:08 scandals as the speaker
12:09 mentioned that the infamous
12:11 stock go scandal which was
12:13 which comptroller landor did
12:14 such a helpful job in
12:16 uncovering you know another
12:17 example that received less
12:19 attention were that agencies
12:20 like health and hospitals and
12:21 nice in the New York City
12:24 emergency management agency
12:25 use the same decastro
12:27 castmates to contract for
12:28 security guards but paid
12:30 wildly different rates for the
12:32 exact same service wasting
12:33 millions of our taxpayer
12:34 dollars at 20 23 controller
12:37 report on emergency
12:39 procurements procurements
12:39 reviewed 292 emergency
12:41 contracts during the first two
12:42 years of the adams
12:43 administration totaling $1.
12:46 7Billion only 43 of those
12:47 contracts 15% of the total
12:49 . Were submitted for
12:50 registration within 30 days so
12:52 even though they didn't have
12:53 to go through a competitive
12:55 process they only submitted
12:58 15% of the contracts to the
12:59 comptroller's office for
13:00 review within 30 days uh.
13:03 234 Contracts had no
13:06 performance evaluations on
13:08 file