NY State Comptroller Rejects CityTime Vendor's Contract

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has rejected a contract between the New York City Transit Authority and Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), saying that SAIC's involvement in CityTime Scandal remains unclear.

The $118 million contract for an upgrade to the Transit Authority's VHF radio system in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx is the first contract submitted to DiNapoli's office under the Public Authority Reform Act passed earlier this year.

SAIC's role in the CityTime scandal in New York City remains unclear, DiNapoli said. There are indictments and very serious concerns about vendors involved on that project. In short, there are too many unanswered questions and too many public dollars at risk for this contract to go forward. New York can't afford another scandal like CityTime. I won't let the Transit Authority put $118 million on the table without the right kind of protections.

DiNapoli's office sent a rejection letter to the Transit Authority citing a recent and potentially significant vendor responsibility issue, namely whether there is any SAIC involvement in the CityTime consultant scandal where consultant fraud and money laundering charges were recently announced by the United States Attorney's Office.

DiNapoli said allegations of mismanagement and cost overruns by SAIC on the CityTime contract heightened his office's concerns.

New York City's computerized timekeeping system project, called CityTime , begun by the city in 1998 and was launched during the Giuliani Administration at a projected cost of $68 million.

Recently, federal prosecutors arrested four CityTime subcontractors alleging they had defrauded the city of $80 million. However, the federal complaint does not accuse the lead software developer SAIC or any city officials of wrongdoing. Officials said the money was originally intended for one of the contractors, Mark Mazer to conduct quality assurance work on Science Applications' software.

In his letter, DiNapoli said while SAIC and its employees are not at this time accused of criminal wrongdoing, the exact nature of SAIC's involvement in this matter remains unresolved and requires additional review and assessment by your office.

The subcontractors are accused of steering over $76 million in new business to associates who then kicked back $24.5 million to Mazer.

Meanwhile, CityTime project is on schedule to be completed next year amid media reports that at least $200,000 in timesheets was falsified.