View Retroactive Contracts

In an effort to enhance the City’s services to vendors, New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. has posted on his web site a list of City agencies that have submitted retroactive contracts. The initiative follows up the joint Comptroller and City Council Procurement Reform Report, a comprehensive plan that sought to end “bottlenecks” in City purchasing by streamlining the contract process and upgrading technology. Retroactive contracts can result in vendors providing services without receiving funds for an extended period of time.

“We are providing this information on our web site in order to inform all New Yorkers, particularly contractors, about City agencies that register contracts late,” Comptroller Thompson said. “I call on every agency to be more vigilant in paying vendors on time.”

A City contract is considered retroactive or late when a City agency fails to register the contract with the Comptroller’s Office before the vendor begins work. Contractors can not get paid until this registration process is completed. Thompson’s list – which can be seen at www.comptroller.nyc.gov – contains submission rates from July 1, 2002 to March 31, 2003. Thompson will update the online data on a monthly basis to provide the public with the most accurate, up-to-date information.

The online chart (seen below) shows that the Department of Youth and Community Development has the highest number of retroactive contracts currently totaling 509 or $53,091,772. Other agencies that rank high on the Comptroller’s list are the Administration for Children’s Services, the Department of Social Services/Human Resources Administration, and the Department of Aging. Each of these agencies currently has more than 100 retroactive contracts.

From July 1, 2002 to March 31, 2003

AGENCY   NUMBER OF LATE CONTRACTS PERCENTAGE LATE VS. OVERALL NUMBER OF CLIENT SERVICE CONTRACTS DOLLAR VALUE OF LATE CONTRACTS PERCENTAGE LATE VS. OVERALL CLIENT SERVICE CONTRACT DOLLAR AMOUNTS AVERAGE DAYS LATE NUMBER OF CONTRACTS REGISTERED BETWEEN 31 AND 90 DAYS LATE NUMBER OF CONTRACTS REGISTERED MORE THAN 90 DAYS LATE DYCD *   509 68.41 53,091,772.00 56.30 124.37 215 294 ACS   153 34.54 368,430,695.17 18.58 75.31 128 25 DSS/HRA   136 95.10 482,307,790.40 92.83 172.07 64 72 AGING   106 32.22 27,679,658.00 16.46 129.74 37 69 HEALTH   102 47.66 67,447,508.00 8.19 176.75 38 64 BUSINESS SERVICES   69 95.83 3,847,680.00 95.47 194.33 0 69 CRIMINAL JUSTICE COORDINATOR   30 78.95 156,510,015.00 64.47 337.80 2 28 EMPLOYMENT   23 100.00 43,186,187.00 100.00 138.87 5 18 HPD   22 75.86 11,709,856.62 72.48 178.73 6 16 HOMELESS   18 27.27 205,677,749.00 51.46 102.33 9 9 PROBATION   5 100.00 10,366,790.00 100.00 578.40 0 5 MENTAL HEALTH   5 100.00 1,693,160.00 100.00 280.00 0 5 CORRECTIONS   4 100.00 4,063,692.30 100.00 157.75 1 3 JUVENILE JUSTICE   4 66.67 4,875,834.00 62.55 52.50 3 1 PARKS & RECREATION   2 100.00 352,500.00 100.00 44.00 2 0 NYPD   1 100.00 60,000.00 100.00 63.00 1 0 TOTAL   1,189 1,441,300,887.49 511 678

* Of the 509 retroactive DYCD contracts, 187 were awarded to vendors using City Council or Borough President discretionary funds.

This chart only represents contracts for Client Services, such as, day and foster care, senior citizen centers, mental and medical health services, etc. Retroactive contracts are most often found in these types of contract.

Thompson’s score card incorporates a 30-day “grace period,” in which a contract is late but not considered retroactive. In most instances, a retroactive contract will not impact a vendor for the first 30 days, because contractors are usually not due a payment until after the first month of work.

“My office is diligently working to find new solutions to enhance the way New York City does business,” Comptroller Thompson said. “This report card is one step in procurement reform. It makes the processing of contracts more transparent and should encourage all City agencies to be more responsive to their business partners.”

The Comptroller’s web site not only lists the number of retroactive contracts by agency, but also details the total dollar amount of the late contracts, percentages of each agency’s late contracts and analysis of how late each agency registers their contracts.

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