Statement from NYC Comptroller Brad Lander in Response to City Hall Winding Down DocGo Contract

 

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released the following statement in response to the Adams Administration’s decision to move away from DocGo, Inc. (also known as Rapid Reliable Testing NY, LLC.). In September 2023, Comptroller Lander rejected the contract between DocGo and the Department of Housing & Preservation Development (HPD), but City Hall chose to move forward with the contract over Comptroller Lander’s objection. Comptroller Lander subsequently announced a first-of-its-kind real-time audit into the contractor’s management and implementation of asylum seeker services.

“After months of warnings about the selection of this vendor and its performance, I’m relieved that the Administration finally came to its senses.

“My office repeatedly sounded the alarm on how ill prepared DocGo was to provide adequate services to asylum seekers. Our contract review found little basis for why DocGo was the best contractor for this job, how the dollar amount for this contract was achieved, and who they planned to subcontract out to for security, hotel, and other services. While our real-time audit of these services is still underway, public reporting indicates how poorly the City picked and managed this vendor.

“While I am glad to see the Administration shift away from DocGo, we continue to be concerned more broadly about the costly emergency contracts the City is using to staff services for asylum seekers. Our recent review of these contracts found the replacement contractor, Garner, to be extremely expensive. Our office will watch closely to ensure that asylum seekers do not see a lapse in services and urges the City to issue an open-ended transition to non-profit organizations to avoid paying for-profit companies millions more than necessary.

“I am encouraged by the City’s announced intention to transition the upstate resettlement work to Jewish Family Services (JFS) of Buffalo by the end of the year. Upstate resettlement nonprofits like JFS have a long track record of helping new arrivals settle, contribute, and flourish in New York communities. We should have started using this model long ago. I hope New York State and other communities around the state will join us to expand this approach.

“The City’s haphazard management of these contracts, especially DocGo, exemplifies the pitfalls of continuing to treat asylum seekers like an emergency for two years, rather than providing services that will get them work authorization, status, security, and safety so that they can thrive in New York.”