|
ALBANY--The New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) has released the wasfindings of a study that reveals government waste to the tune of $11 million a year by the state Office of General Services. The study was included in testimony before an Assembly hearing on procurement issues Tuesday.
The PEF study concluded in late August looked at the use of private contractors by OGS. PEF's analysis of 12 OGS contracts and subcontracts between 1996 and 2004 found OGS wasted $11 million a year by contracting-out engineering and design work.
"The level of waste is staggering," said PEF Region 8 Coordinator Lou Matrazzo. "It's hard to imagine how the state can justify this trend toward shifting more and more work to consultants when it's been proven over and over that state employees can do the work better and for less."
PEF researchers found, for example, the average cost of an individual contractor with the consulting firm of Smith & Mahoney cost OGS $156,772 annually. A state worker in a comparable job title would be paid on average $96,523, including benefits.
In June, the Fiscal Policy Institute released a report estimating that the state wastes about $500 million per year by using outside contractors for work that could be done at lower cost by state employees.
"If the goal of contracting-out is to save taxpayers' money, the state is failing miserably," said Matrazzo.
PEF spent $1.3 million last year on its Go Public campaign to educate New Yorkers about the high cost of contracting-out work to private consultants. The campaign included four bills aimed at making state government more accountable when it comes to the awarding of state contracts. One of the bills that requires lobbyists to disclose efforts to influence the awarding of state contracts was signed into law by Gov. George Pataki last month. A second Go Public bill was passed by the state Legislature but has not yet been sent to the governor. It would require state agencies to keep track of how many private consultants work for them, the cost and to report that information each year to the Legislature.
PEF is the state's second-largest state-employee union, representing 52,000 professional, scientific and technical employees. 9-27-05
|
