Audit of NYC’s emergency DocGo contract reveals over $11 million in wasteful spending, fraudulent activity, and abuse

City Comptroller Brad Lander’s recent audit of the contracts between the Adams administration and DocGo has revealed that the city should seek to recover over $11 million out of the nearly $14 million paid to the migrant-services provider last year. The question arises: why did Lander wait so long to bring this issue to light?

The emergency no-bid $432 million DocGo contract arranged by City Hall ended up allocating several million dollars for services and shelter that were never utilized, with missing documentation for authorizations.

The audit uncovered instances where the city was charged $569,500 to rent out the Crowne Plaza JFK Hotel for 10 nights, but no rooms were actually occupied during that time. In total, taxpayers footed the bill for almost 10,000 vacant room-nights, resulting in $1.7 million being paid to DocGo, including $408,680 in commissions over a two-month period.

Additionally, nearly $800,000 in seemingly unauthorized expenses were revealed.

The administration justified these expenses as a response to an influx of asylum-seekers brought in by the Biden-Harris administration, stating that the city had a legal obligation to provide shelter regardless of the number of individuals arriving at its doors.

While the Adams team claims to have addressed these issues several months ago, after they were initially flagged by Lander’s team, questions still remain about the choice of working with DocGo (formerly Rapid Reliable Testing NY LLC) and why the contracts were being managed through the Department of Housing Preservation and Development instead of more experienced homeless agencies.

• Almost $1.7 million for unoccupied hotel rooms, including $400,000 in commissions.
• $2 million overpaid to security subcontractors by DocGo.
• Thousands spent on unnecessary meal deliveries, exceeding the number needed based on the migrant population in hotels.
• $21,974 for sales tax on food and other items, despite the government’s exemption from such taxes.

Journalist Nicole Gelinas has been raising concerns about these issues in The Post since last September, implying that Lander’s delayed response to flagging these problems, such as “poor fiscal control,” may be linked to his mayoral aspirations.

It’s important for New York to move beyond political motivations and reconsider the entire migrant-shelter concept, which has not only cost billions but has also incentivized more illegal border crossings. This is a larger scandal that needs to be addressed.