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NEWS from the Office of the New York State Comptroller
Contact: Press Office 518-474-4015

State Comptroller DiNapoli Releases Audits

January 11, 2022

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced today the following audits have been issued.

Department of Civil Service: New York State Health Insurance Program – Payments by Empire BlueCross for Hospital Services for Ineligible Members (Follow-Up) (2021-F-17)

An audit issued in August 2020 identified $18.2 million that was paid for hospital services for ineligible members. Of the $18.2 million identified, Empire has recovered $11.5 million and found $2.1 million was beyond recoverability time frames, leaving $4.6 million yet to be recovered. In a follow-up, Civil Service and Empire made significant progress in addressing the problems identified in the initial audit. In particular, Empire recovered over $5.4 million on behalf of the state’s Empire Plan.

New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation: Oversight of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (2020‑S‑64)

The corporation generally has adequate controls to ensure projects are awarded according to established scoring criteria, meet the requirements of the fund, and are repaid in a timely manner. The corporation could improve post-construction performance and maintenance monitoring to determine whether projects continue to operate as intended and whether the maintenance terms are being met.

Office of General Services: Monitoring of Construction Management (2020-S-42)

For the five projects reviewed, auditors determined that, generally, the office adequately monitors construction management contracts to ensure that the terms and requirements are met, and that costs are supported and related. They also identified several areas that need improvement. Three of the five construction management consultants used a state-certified women-owned business enterprise (WBE) and claimed credits toward each of their contracts’ MWBE goals. However, the WBE subcontracted out all of its approved services to an independent contractor (non-MWBE) and therefore the WBE did not provide a commercially useful function.

New York City Department of Finance (DOF): Selected Aspects of Parking Violations Operations to Collect Fines and Fees (Follow-Up) (2021-F-13)

An audit issued in December 2019 found that parking summonses sent to collection agencies were not closely monitored to ensure the amounts had been collected and DOF expended minimal effort to collect amounts due for summonses issued to vehicles with diplomatic plates. In a follow-up, auditors found DOF officials made progress in addressing the problems identified in the initial audit report.

New York City Department of Social Services: Oversight of Contract Expenditures of Bowery Residents’ Committee (BRC) (2019-N-8)

In February 2011, DHS contracted with BRC to provide emergency shelter and ancillary services for mentally ill and chemically addicted homeless adults at their 200-bed Jack Ryan Residence. Auditors found the department is not effectively monitoring the contract to ensure reported costs are allowable, supported, and program related. DHS did not complete required expenditure reviews or ensure that required year-end closeouts were completed on time. For the three fiscal years ended June 30, 2019, auditors identified $1,428,199, or 6.05%, of all reported costs that did not comply with the requirements for payment.

State Education Department: Facility Planning Bureau Project Review (Follow-Up) (2021-F-25)

An audit issued in February 2019 found SED did not perform project plan reviews in a timely manner, as it took six months or longer to finalize the approval for 2,764 (43.8%) of the 6,315 projects analyzed. Auditors also found that SED did not monitor project construction, including whether school districts began construction before receiving final approval from the department. In a follow-up, auditors found SED has made progress in addressing the problems identified in the initial audit report, but additional improvements are still needed.


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