Governor skipped contract review process last year because he had emergency powers, and 1/3 of the $1.1 billion purchase contract is up for grabs
The state government has been pursuing payment for a large amount of medical supplies that Cuomo ordered in a hurry last year and was unable to fulfill the contract because the supplier was not qualified. Photo taken on July 6, 2020.
The New York State government placed a rush order for disease-fighting medical equipment during last year’s Epidemic, skipping the usual contract review process and leaving one-third of the purchase price of the $1.1 billion contract to be recovered from the seller, which involved a Chinese supplier. The state recently hired a Hong Kong law firm to recover the money.
According to the New York Post 23 news, the New York State Department of health late last year with a “Gall Solicitors” (Gall Solicitors), a Hong Kong law firm signed a contract for a fee of $ 125,000, to engage its recovery of medical supplies contract default payments.
The one-year contract also provides for a waiver of the state comptroller’s “pre-audit” process. The reason is that the governor, who has had emergency powers since last year’s outbreak, can grant the other party an audit waiver. The governor’s emergency powers are now under pressure from state lawmakers to withdraw them because of his mishandling of the nursing Home matter.
The New York Times has reported that the Cuomo administration signed $1.1 billion in orders for respirators, masks and other anti-epidemic supplies with a variety of companies that would have been underqualified in normal times after last year’s outbreak; and that the contracts often used the usual irregularities of prepayment and other unfavorable agreement methods for the state. However, one-third of the contracts later resulted in New York State having to seek refunds because the sellers were late or could not deliver the goods.
These suppliers, in addition to Chinese factory companies with a reputation for poor quality, included unqualified U.S.-based companies such as car dealers, military consulting firms, acquaintances of the state health department director, and even a sex toy manufacturer, all of which were not vetted suppliers during the epidemic emergency.
In his new book on fighting the epidemic, Cuomo defends himself by saying, “Because people’s lives were in danger, we had no choice.”
After the state issued a notice of recovery, most of the seller companies said “no money.” So, the state hired a large number of law firms to collect the money owed.
According to a response from the governor’s spokesman, the state has now recovered $235 million in payments.
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