Comptroller Stringer Announces New Level of Transparency for COVID-19 Emergency Procurements

 

COVID-19 emergency contract and spending data to be highlighted on Checkbook NYC to further enhance transparency and accountability

 New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer announced enhanced interactivity on the award-winning Checkbook NYC website to track contracts, amendments, and spending specific to the City’s COVID-19 emergency response. This added functionality will allow unprecedented insight into COVID-19 emergency procurements for the general public, good government groups, and government officials.

“Transparency and accountability matter – especially regarding emergency contracts and spending during a time of crisis,” said Comptroller Stringer. “This added transparency regarding the COVID-19 emergency response is an important step for the good governance of our city. Without such data and resulting analysis, the City risks repeating the mistakes of the past and eroding the public trust. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve in ways that will challenge the City for the foreseeable future, and climate change will certainly cause more frequent weather-related emergencies. We must be transparent in how we respond to these inevitable emergencies.”

The vast majority of COVID-19 emergency contracts and contract amendments were registered by the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services (MOCS), pursuant to Emergency Executive Order 101 (EEO 101). While EEO 101 was active between March 17, 2020 and July 16, 2021 over 1,600 contract actions, including amendments, were registered by MOCS, representing at least $7 billion in potential contractual spending. As such, requests for further information on any specific COVID-19 emergency contract action registered under EEO 101 should be directed to the contracting agency and the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services, the current custodians of those records.

Since Checkbook was launched in 2010, emergency contracting data has been available under the “EMERGENCY” Award Method heading. However, in order to provide an additional level of transparency regarding COVID-19 emergency procurements, Checkbook will now include the following specialized sections and new search criteria:

MOCS Registered COVID-19 Contracts Table

A new table has been created within the “Contracts” section of Checkbook NYC that shows the expense contracts registered by MOCS, pursuant to EEO 101, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic within the current fiscal year. This table will also include potential sub-vendors and can be narrowed down by various criteria, including M/WBE status, contract amount, or vendor name.

MOCS Registered COVID-19 Contract Spending Table

A new table has been created within the “Spending” section of Checkbook NYC that shows the spending transactions associated with any of the MOCS registered contracts pursuant to EEO 101 within the current fiscal year. This table will also include potential sub-vendors spending and can be narrowed down by various criteria, including M/WBE status, contract amount, or vendor name.

This spending table will be updated daily with any additional spending transactions related to a MOCS registered COVID-19 contract.

Advanced Search

Users of Checkbook NYC can now search by various criteria to identify COVID-19 related contracts and spending, including those registered by the Comptroller’s Office after the revocation of EEO 101 on July 16, 2021.

• Catastrophic Event: A new “Catastrophic Event” field has been created within Advanced Search that currently displays one option, COVID-19. The resulting data will include all the above referenced search criteria across all fiscal years, including all contracts registered by MOCS pursuant to EEO 101 and all contracts with a spending transaction linked to a COVID-19 budget code. Additionally, this Catastrophic Event – COVID-19 field includes any contract containing the word “COVID” in the contract purpose field. As with the new table functionality in the Contracts and Spending sections, the Catastrophic Event – COVID-19 data can be further narrowed and exported to a .csv file for further analysis.

Budget codes are continually updated, and as additional codes related to COVID-19 are created, they will be included in Checkbook NYC’s enhanced interactivity.

For future emergencies, this same functionality could be used to similarly distinguish any related contracts and spending, with additional drop-down selections made available under the Catastrophic Event field.

To view this updated functionality, visit Checkbook NYC website.