Monday, February 25, 2013
John Liu Getting Our Tax $s back ECTP 911
This is from John Liu but a note from me Suzannah -- I am ill in bed in part fall-out PTS from violent assault and NYPD fixing. This is my only post - need to rest very ill and have MD appointment later.
ECTP 911 John Liu refers to as CityTime 2. This is way bigger than the money cited here and in 2012 May John Liu called for criminal investigation giving Cy Vance 20 page audit. This is bigger than CityTime and the system failed and People died. I believe way more money abused on this project.
Thanks, S
Dear Friend,
To those who say there's no money: there's plenty due to the City. That is, of course, if you know where to look and have the will to go after it.
Last week, Comptroller Liu uncovered $345 million that should be recaptured from the City's generous Times Square giveaway. This week, it's $163 million that should be recouped from "CityTime II", another botched, runaway consultant contract already over-budget.
Doing business with the City of New York is a privilege, not a lifetime guarantee. Although City Hall can't turn back the clock and undo the gross mismanagement, it must pursue the rightful refunds for our taxpayers.
See below for news reports chronicling "CityTime II".
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: "Liu: Hewlett us down" - 2/21/2013
EXCERPT - City Controller John Liu is vowing to reject any future city contracts with computer giant Hewlett-Packard until the company repays $163 million it overcharged the city for upgrading New York’s emergency 911 system.
“It’s about time we teach companies that their attempts to cheat . . . taxpayers will have serious consequences,” Liu said in a blistering letter to Mayor Bloomberg late Tuesday. “HP is not the only vendor the City can use to purchase printers, laptops and servers,” Liu added.
HP routinely charged a markup of more than 50% for each of the hundreds of consultants employed on the project, Liu found.
No wonder the 911 project — the most ambitious public safety initiative of the Bloomberg administration — ballooned from an original $1.2 billion price tag to more than $2 billion and is years behind schedule.
EXCERPT - HP debe este dinero por sobrecargar sus facturas como contratista para el centro de comunicaciones de emergencias de la ciudad al número 911 (ECTP), que lleva un retraso de ocho años y más de $1,000 millones de sobrecosto, según señaló Liu en un comunicado.
Por ello, urgió a Bloomberg a demandar a la empresa para recuperar el dinero perdido, y advirtió que su oficina revisará “cuidadosamente” cualquier contrato con HP de cara a un posible rechazo por “posible corrupción”, según le permite una norma municipal.
Según Liu, un posible bloqueo de la ciudad a la compañía tendría un efecto apreciable, ya que el conjunto de las agencias municipales neoyorquinas han comprado productos y servicios a HP por valor de casi $250 millones en los últimos tres años.
BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE: "Comptroller Liu wants HP to pay up or lose millions in NYC contracts" -2/22/2013
EXCERPT - In a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Liu says HP owes the city the money for blatant overbilling as a contractor on the project, known as the Emergency Communications Transformation Program (ECTP), which was completed last month -- nearly eight years behind schedule and more than $1 billion over budget.
HP consistently failed to meet contractual requirements, double-billed for some services, and hired subcontractors to perform much of the work and then marked up their bills by 54 percent – well beyond the 25 percent markup allowed, according to the Comptroller.