Monday, January 27, 2014

Bloomberg's final act as mayor was a doozy

From the Daily News:

In one of its final acts, the Bloomberg administration pushed through a costly contract to modernize the city's 311 call system — hiring the same company fired by the feds for the botched rollout of the Obamacare website.

The city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, known as DoITT, awarded the contract to the Montreal-based company CGI on Dec. 31, hours before Bill de Blasio was sworn in as mayor.

Bloomberg administration officials were keen on approving the deal because the former mayor sees the 311 hotline as one his legacies, sources said.

But rival companies are up in arms, saying CGI has little if any experience managing call centers. A website, Dont911nyc311.com, has popped up to protest the contract.

CGI has never overhauled “a 311-type system,” said a source in the information technology industry.


From CBS Local:

A contract awarded to a Montreal-Based CGI on December 31, has caught the eye of City Comptroller Scott Stringer.

“I’m certainly reviewing the contract now,” Stringer told WCBS 880′s Jim Smith.

“This is a critical project when it comes to enhancing 311 and we’re going to be looking at all aspect of this process and contract,” Stringer said.

Stringer said that it was important to make sure that the company does what it said it would do. CGI and the city’s IT department say the competitive bid was awarded after a rigorous evaluation process.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Because there are no fucking Americans that can or want to do those jobs??????

Anonymous said...

Option 1: expand hiring lines in union-protected jobs where people can be gainfully employed, and develop expertise with time to serve the city effectively.

Option 2: Spend 10X - 100X times that on a contractor with a 1 year limited maintenance agreement, whose board of executives will remember the favor come election time.

It's not a hard choice for a politician.

J said...

Is there any more proof that mayor funsize's contracts for city services are designed to fail?First citytime,then the 911 system,superbowl blvd. and now(a month later,where the hell our are intrepid journalists?)he gives a contract to the most notorious laughing stock tech company who he wouldn't hire to fix his own news media complex.

and Stringer is going to look at it NOW?!!I guess he got caught up in all that progressive euphoria after the election.

In a way,this provides an excuse for the Blaz to fall back on,when things go awry and complaints don't get answered.

willful obliviousness at its most grotesque






Anonymous said...

Bloomberg's last-minute act as mayor brings to mind Dinkins' last minute sweetheart deal to give Flushing Meadows Park land to the Tennis Association for 99 years, despite incoming Mayor Giuliani's plea not sign until he (Giuliani) has time to review it.

Anonymous said...

J -

Stringer has been Comptroller for 24 days. That's why he's looking at it NOW. The responsibility for looking at it before then rested with our pal, John Liu.

Anonymous said...

The DOI needs to investigate the DoITT.

J said...

I stand corrected,since John Liu couldn't see corruption with the company he keeps,its no surprise(unless he intends to get something from this contract)that he missed this,intentionally or not

but still,24 days?he won the election in November,springer doesn't see what he's inherited from the previous administration?these people don't talk to each other at all?

I'm shocked,shocked I tell you.seriously.

Anonymous said...

311 is such a sham on us taxpayers. You file a complaint. They close it out in under two days. With nothing being dome about it.

Bloomberg was the king of falsification of numbers. He taught all the NY CEO's how to cook their books.

THAT'S HIS LEGACY.