The disaster response company that replaced the controversial DocGo as New York City's immigration services provider has cost taxpayers more than $450 million in the past year, The Post has learned.
In a scathing letter Thursday obtained exclusively by the Post, City Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn) called on the city and state auditors to investigate the Garner Environmental Services contract. I asked for it.
Garner previously had a $30 million emergency services standby contract with the city. After months of backlash, City Hall ended a $432 million no-bid contract with DocGo in May, holding Garner responsible for the troubled company's role in protecting tens of thousands of immigrants in the city. It was handed over to Mr.
But Brannan, the City Council finance chairman who is running for city auditor, says city records show that Garner was given $400 million in the widely criticized DocGo contract without any meaningful audit or scrutiny. He claimed to have earned nearly $457 million, more than $32 million.
“With DocGo's contract with the City of New York terminated, the Mayor's Office has estimated that Mr. Garner's operation of Asylum Seeker Relief Services will cost the city $10 less per person per night than DocGo.” It is stated in the letter.
“But given the astronomical inflation of 15 times the value of this contract, it is difficult to see how that savings is being passed on to New Yorkers.”
DocGo's plight has been a thorn in Mayor Eric Adams' administration as his administration grapples with the first wave of 200,000 immigrants expected to arrive in New York City starting in 2022.
The city tapped DocGo, a company that provides coronavirus testing, to provide shelter, meals and other services to migrants under a $432 million emergency contract in May 2023.
But the large contract proved to be more difficult than being awarded without the typical competitive bidding process that most government contracts go through.
The company has come under fire for costly mismanagement at its migrant shelter in the city, using unlicensed security guards and throwing out thousands of uneaten meals a day.
Adams ultimately did not renew DocGo's one-year contract, and city officials instead turned the blame on Garner, the Texas-based emergency response company that has served New York City since 2012's Superstorm Sandy. was moved.
Brannan's letter said city officials did so based on an existing contract between Garner and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.
The $30 million contract serves as a “parent” contract, from which the city will spend an additional $426 million on direct orders from immigrant shelters and other agencies that handle their needs, essentially Paid on a pay-as-you-go basis.
One of the most recent direct orders came to light on Oct. 7, when records show the city spent $3.2 million for “emergency shelter operations” at the Humanitarian Relief Shelter for Immigrants at 455 Jefferson Street in Brooklyn. There is.
Brannan says Garner's approach to the city is “very concerning.”
His letter cited a recent audit by City Comptroller Brad Lander that found Garner “exploited” health and hospitals, while forcing the public hospital system to pay its security staff more than $117 an hour. and claims it charges another city agency just $79 an hour under the same contract.
According to Brannan's letter, Garner also charged immigration shelter managers more than $130 an hour, far more than DocGo's rate of $88.33.
“While there is no doubt that the Adams Administration was at fault for failing to coordinate the negotiations more aggressively, Mr. Garner's complicity in robbing an agency and reaping significantly higher profits is unacceptable,” Brannan wrote in the letter. did.
City officials referred comments to the Citywide Office of Administrative Services, where representatives said the Garner contract is part of a 10-year agreement to address emergency needs.
Representatives for Garner did not respond to requests for comment.
Brannan's letter, addressed to Lander and state Auditor Tom DiNapoli, points out that Garner also has an $800 million contract with New York state that was not subject to the preliminary audit.
