Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
“[W]e are clearing the backlog and finally giving non-profits the resources they’re owed to continue delivering the services New Yorkers have come to rely on,” Mayor Adams said.
By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams and the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services (MOCS) today announced more than $4.2 billion in contractual dollars unlocked through the ‘Clear the Backlog’ initiative, a key recommendation of the Joint Task Force to Get Nonprofits Paid on Time. Launched on May 9th, this 12-week initiative to clear the existing backlog has resulted in 2600 previously unregistered, retroactive contract actions being registered or submitted for registration, helping 451 providers. Earlier this year, Mayor Adams and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released “A Better Contract for New York: A Joint Task Force to Get Nonprofits Paid on Time,” which identified concrete steps to reform and improve the city’s procurement process, particularly for human services providers. Among the key recommendations was an initiative to clear the backlog of unregistered, retroactive contracts and amendments to allow nonprofits who are owed considerable funds to begin invoicing as expeditiously as possible.
This groundbreaking initiative was made possible by the intense coordination and commitment of resources by various city agencies, oversight bodies, and partners. This includes agencies impacted by the backlog: the New York City Department of Social Services, the New York City Administration for Children’s Services, the New York City Department for the Aging, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, the New York City Department of Probation, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the New York City Department of Education, the New York City Department of Homeless Services, the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Oversight entities, such as the New York City Law Department, the New York City Office of Management and Budget, and MOCS have devoted their efforts and staff to streamlining approvals.
The process was spearheaded by Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Sheena Wright and Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom, in partnership with Comptroller Lander.
Earlier this year, Mayor Adams and MOCS announced the beta launch of PASSPort Public, a data transparency portal that provides unprecedented insight into the city’s main procurement system. PASSPort Public beta makes current information, at all stages of the procurement process, available to city vendors, not-for-profits, and the public, fulfilling another recommendation of the Joint Task Force to Get Nonprofits Paid on Time and to build transparency and accountability among all stages of the contracting and procurement process.
“For far too long this city has been negatively impacted by a bloated and slow bureaucracy, and this backlog is a symptom of that,” said City Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park). “By clearing out this backlog, Mayor Adams is taking a strong first step towards reversing decades of neglect and waste. This will enable so many nonprofits across the five boroughs to finally get the money that they’ve been waiting for, and then put that money to good use by improving the lives of New Yorkers in need.”
Mayor Adams added, “For too long, non-profits have been crushed by the boulder of bureaucracy and rolls of red tape, but we are clearing the backlog and finally giving non-profits the resources they’re owed to continue delivering the services New Yorkers have come to rely on.”
