Costly consultant hired at Ag & Mkts
By SHERRY HALBROOK
When the state Department of Agriculture and Markets (Ag & Mkts) looked for some expert help in developing a request for proposals (RFP) from technology consultants, it could have turned to the state Office for Technology (OFT).
If it had, it would have saved state taxpayers a bundle.
Instead, Ag & Mkts hired a private technology consultant at more than double the cost to develop the RFP for hiring still more private contractors.
“The state pays through the nose when it hires outside contractors,” said Tom Cetrino, PEF’s director of civil service enforcement, “but time and again we see state agencies make this choice. It’s a bad habit they need to break.”
Ag & Mkts ended up paying Albany-based private consulting firm NYS Technology Enterprise Corporation (NYSTEC) 209 percent more for the part-time services of three employees to develop the RFP than it would have cost to have the equivalent state employees at OFT do the job.
That’s the verdict following a close analysis of the contract by PEF’s Department of Civil Service Enforcement.
For
instance, Ag & Mkts paid NYSTEC $200 per hour for the services of a senior
software engineer.That adds up to $1,600 per day or $400,000 if the engineer did a full year of work.
The rate for NYSTEC’s engineering analyst under this contract would amount to nearly $300,000 annually.
And the rate NYSTEC charged Ag & Mkts for the services of a secretary would total $136,500 for a year of full-time work.
Fortunately, it took the three NYSTEC employees less than a year to complete the RFP for Ag & Mkts.
NYSTEC’s total bill for 536 hours of work by the three-person team came to $86,240.
NYSTEC was hired to help the department develop a request for proposals from more private consultants to streamline and consolidate the department’s various licensure programs.
“But that’s why the state created its own Office for Technology — to help all state agencies with their information technology (IT) needs, and to ensure standardization and compatibility of that technology among the agencies,” Cetrino said.
State technology policy requires all state agencies to notify OFT in advance and then work with it in purchasing new computer hardware and/or software.
“If OFT provides these services,” Cetrino asked, “why do Ag & Mkts and many other state agencies persist in hiring private IT consultants, especially when they come at a much higher cost?
“State taxpayers and their elected representatives should demand some answers.”