CM Dinowitz on SCI procurement reform recommendations

You mentioned training.

Enhanced training.

Now currently that training is not required by principals.

Is the DOE's policy is going, is the DOE going to make that training required for principals who deal with millions of dollars in their budgets?

Chair, this is of course something we have to discuss with our union partners, but in my lawyerly view, we should, and I hope we'll be able to negotiate to that outcome.

Is that the view of the Chancellor as well?

Yes.

That they should.

Okay.

SCI recommended increased oversight of non-contracted vendors.

In what ways has DOE implemented or are attempting to implement this recommendation?

Thank you for that.

So those recommendations also implied that we would need an influx of resources that we don't necessarily have at the moment.

And this is why at the top of the discussion when we were talking about procurement reform, one of the ways that we think we could address that is by centralizing the procurement function.

Because with it, with having that.

I'm sorry, just to clarify, centralizing procurement for those sub $25,000.

Correct.

Okay.

Because we'll have more, well, you know, that would make me accountable as the chief procurement officer.

Well, maybe not given some of these answers.

I don't know.

You know, well, to some extent, right?

I mean, because then, you know, if you, you know, when, I mean, and I think you know this, when you decentralize things that, you know, it creates, you know, all of these pockets of vulnerabilities, if you, I mean, I think that would probably be the best term.

It creates vulnerabilities, right, because you just don't have oversight.

And so I think centralizing the procurement function itself will solve for that to some extent.

Now, not saying it's going to solve for it all, right, because, like I said, we're 1,600 schools.

But it creates, you know, it will allow us to standardize processes, internal processes.

It will allow us to strengthen our standard operating procedures and also ensure that we're all.

also looking at our policy to ensure that we can, you know, tighten that up to ensure that, you know, that we can minimize these occurrences in the future.

Yeah, I mean, in an ideal world, right, because the Chancellor mentioned autonomy of these schools, and for, I think, most all of them, that's very important.

In an ideal world, you'd want to raise that $25,000.

You know, Deputy Speaker, Council Member Dr.

Nantasha Williams organized a roundtable of MWBE providers, and one of the concerns they raised was that it's hard for them to compete, especially for these sub-$25,000 contracts.

And my response to them is what I'll share on the record now, which is I think it would be great if your companies would more easily do business with DOE.

However, we do have this systemic problem of these under $25,000 contracts, which has not to date been, I think, truly addressed.

And unfortunately, we can't just rely on...

Principals or school leaders volunteering to take training, I think they should be required to take this training, right, and be held accountable.

You know, if SCI makes recommendations, it's still a puzzle as to why someone who exercised serious lapses in judgment, which resulted in

An adult being in a room with children, he shouldn't have been in, would continue and be promoted.

SCI recommended stronger safeguards to ensure the integrity of bids and procurement documentation.

Has the DOE implemented this recommendation?

We haven't implemented a lot of the recommendations because, again, I had stated earlier that it's going to require some structural changes and also some changes to policy.

These things take time.

So it's under advisement, and we're currently working internally to figure out how we could roll it out.

What is a time?

I mean, you have the best lawyer in New York City sitting right there.

What's your timeline?

Unfortunately, I don't have a timeline in the moment, but it's all a part of the broader procurement reform strategy.

So I will ask, and I'll say it's under advisement, but SCI recommended increased scrutiny of sole source procurements.

So they made a recommendation that we actually absolutely agree with, and that's something that I'm working with my team on, just in terms of ensuring that schools are seeking proper approvals for those items.

And what does proper approval look like?

So, you know, for a sole source, you know, there are instances where vendors will say that they're the sole, you know, they're the sole provider of this good or service, right?

But the truth of the matter is if a sole source item, if an item is not considered or good or service is not considered sole source, if I can purchase it elsewhere, right?

And so.

Well, just to be clear, I understand it as if you're a vendor and you tell me that it's sole source, that that's good enough.

No.

That's not the case?

No.

Okay, please explain.

No.

So, yeah, vendors tell you that, right?

The chair Lee says check Amazon.

Exactly.

Check Amazon.

If you say that you're the only person that sells this pen, right, it's my team or whoever, the school's responsibility to actually do the proper due diligence to ensure that they cannot purchase it elsewhere.

Because if you can purchase it elsewhere, then you can bid it out competitively.

Right?

Because the goal is to ensure that you're getting the best pricing, right, for this pen.

But just, you know, a vendor stating in a letter that, you know, they're the sole provider of that, that to me, that's...

I could save you millions of dollars.

Shop DOE is the most expensive place to buy pens.

You ever go and shop DOE?

Yeah.

You don't go and shop DOE?

That's like the website.

That you're supposed to use.

It's like one pen, $15.

It's awful.

Go on, Councilmember Joseph, another forever educator, she knows.

So if you want to save millions of dollars, go on that website and watch your eyes bulge out.

And we're not allowed to use coupons.

No coupons, no discounts, you can't go to Staples.

You seriously don't know about this?

You're asking me if I don't know about Shop D.O.E.?

Shop D.O.E., yeah.

Of course I know about Shop D.O.E.

Of course you know about Shop D.O.E., okay.

My God, I thought you said you didn't.

What a...

She's never bought pens from Shop D.O.E.

Don't.

Go to a city agency.

They have all their free swag you can go to.

Okay, I do want to move on.

This is certainly an issue that is of great importance and great concern that we will continue with.

As time goes on, I hope all the legal issues are worked out so that information can be shared publicly.

But also getting a timeline on what those changes are.

$300 million is no small chunk of change, and if there are ways to improve upon that, and also ideally, and someday in the future, allow for more of our NWBEs to have access to our schools, that would be the ideal scenario.