Scott slap at DOE wheeler dealers

The Department of Education is playing fast and loose with billions of dollars in school contracts, according to a new report from City Comptroller Scott Stringer.

The analysis found that the DOE frequently ignored its own procedures by awarding insufficiently competitive contracts and heightening opportunities for abuse.

“The new findings show that the agency plays by its own rules when it comes to contracting,” the report said.

The DOE doled out $2.7 billion in contracts without full bidding competitions in 2016, Stringer said. That figure represented 64 percent of their total contracting expenditures.

The analysis vetted 521 “limited competition” contracts and found that 442 vendors began carrying out their work before the contracts were actually registered with the Comptroller’s Office, in violation of state law.

The DOE was also routinely tardy in submitting 302 new contracts and renewals to Stringer’s office, according to the report.

One contract was finally relayed 910 days after the vendor began its work, the report said.

In addition, the DOE even handed over some contracts after their official end date.

“This investigation shows that DOE acts as though the rules don’t matter,” Stringer said. “We’re talking about billions of dollars spent without real oversight, without competitive bids, and without accountability.”

The report also noted that vendors can’t get paid until their contracts are registered with the comptroller and that many of them end up chasing checks for years.

But the DOE ripped the report, saying many of the figures were inaccurate and that it omitted pivotal context.

For example, the DOE said $2.3 billion of the $2.7 billion worth of deals Stringer called non-competitive were actually renewals and extensions that were originally subject to a bidding process.

“We have a rigorous procurement process with strong oversight mechanisms, and many of this audit’s conclusions are incorrect,” said DOE spokesman Will Mantell.