Hi-Bid And A-Fraud

from the Gotham Gazette

Earlier this week the Post’s Yoav Gonen reported the department awarded a $1.6 million contract to Accenture to help the department lower costs for books and equipment. Accenture got the job even though, according to Gonen, its bid was four times higher than that of the lowest bidder — and called for paying up to $315 an hour for services of an entry-level project manager. “That’s the highest rate I’ve ever heard in my life,” a losing bidder told the Post. “There appears to be no integrity there and obviously there’s no oversight.” (There is, though, apparently money paid to Tiger Woods.)
At least that contract went out for bid. Last summer, the Post found a sharp uptick in no-bid contracts for education under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. Citing statistics from the city comptroller’s office, the Post said that in fiscal year 2000, when Rudolph Giuliani was mayor, the school system, signed seven no-bid contracts worth a total of $693,000. In fiscal year 2007, it signed 76 no-bid contracts totaling of $72 million. The number did, however, drop to $12 million in fiscal year 2008. Overall the department has reportedly awarded $340 million in no–bid contracts in the Bloomberg-Klein era.