The firm awarded a hefty $432 million no-bid contract by Mayor Adams’ administration to help migrants should be forced to return millions of dollars to the city over questionable payments and billing practices aided by shoddy government oversight, according to a scathing audit by Comptroller Brad Lander, the newly announced mayoral candidate.
The audit of the city’s emergency contract with the controversial firm DocGo reviewed payments for the first two months of the firm’s’ emergency contract in May and June 2023 to provide hotel rooms, food and other services to migrants, many in suburban and upstate inns north of the Big Apple.
A draft of the report obtained by The Post concluded that 80% of the first $13.8 million paid to DocGo during the initial two months — about $11 million — should be recouped by the city.
Payments for lodging, security, food and other services were inflated or lacked documentation while oversight of subcontractors was nil, the audit said.
The contract and services were overseen by the city’s Department of Housing and Preservation & Development (HPD).
“A review of paid invoices for May and June of 2023 found that 80% of the $13.8 million paid to DocGo should not have been paid, either because the amounts paid were not allowable under the contract or they were not adequately supported by documentation as required. If this error rate were applied across the $168 million subsequently paid to DocGo for services as of June 12, 2024, the overpayment amount could reach $134.4 million,” the audit said.
Of the $13.8 million paid out, more than $9 million was intended for DocGo subcontractors that were not pre-approved by HPD, the analysis said.
Lander’s audit flatly claims the COVID-supplier-turned-migrant-shelter provider was unqualified to handle the challenging task of serving thousands of asylum seekers.
“DocGo lacks experience in providing any type of emergency housing,” the audit said.
The report noted that Lander last September rejected the contract between HPD and DocGo, but Adams overrode his objections. Previous reported complaints include DocGo using unlicensed security guards and staffers mistreating asylum seekers.
The completion of the hard-hitting probe comes just a week after Lander announced his candidacy for mayor, which pits the lefty progressive against Adams, the moderate incumbent, in the Democratic primary next June.
Sources said the unusual situation of a sitting comptroller running for mayor seeking re-election raises concerns over whether Lander is fulfilling his constitutional duties or using his auditing power as a political club to embarrass rival Adams.
Adams’ office claimed Lander was being nit-picky during an unrelenting migrant crisis.
“At the height of an unprecedented international humanitarian crisis, workers from across the city government were called upon to take swift, decisive action to meet this defining moment with compassion and care for others,” a mayoral spokesman said.
“As mothers needed baby formula and health care workers needed supplies, we put people’s wellbeing before paperwork.”
The Adams rep continued, “The comptroller can nitpick the first two months of an emergency contract over a year after the fact and long after new safeguards were put in place, but he cannot claim to have saved a single migrant family from sleeping on the streets.
“We will continue to pay our partners for the work they do on behalf of the city, particularly amidst a humanitarian crisis.”
HPD officials acknowledged they could have initially better handled the DocGo contract and accepted and implemented some of the comptroller’s recommendations, while disputing and rejecting others.
The audit said the DocGo and the city paid more to subcontractors for security coverage at the hotels than stipulated in the contract.
HPD officials disputed the characterization that it back-stamped approval for additional security, claiming the memo cited in the audit written months later “memorialized” verbal approval that had been provided previously.
The audit said the city paid “DocGo almost $1.7 million for “vacant rooms” in hotels during this two- month period while the firm collected $408,680 in commissions.
HPD also paid DocGo $971,967 for the delivery of 259,961 meals during May and June 2023, but the population of migrants at the shelters show that only 160,431 meals were needed, according to the audit.
But HPD bashed the report as a political hit job by Lander.
“The report egregiously mischaracterizes HPD memos and fails to acknowledge facts that don’t reinforce their politically convenient narrative,” said HPD spokesperson Ilana Maier.
“HPD staff and its vendors worked around the clock, seven days a week, to make sure that the thousands of people suddenly on the city’s doorstep were safe, sheltered, and fed. When HPD made decisions quickly, it made them compassionately; and when procedures didn’t yet exist and documentation wasn’t available in the moment, HPD exercised good judgment rather than risking lives for bureaucratic steps.”
DocGo defended its performance.
“New York City has been faced with a national migrant crisis for two years, and DocGo has helped the city navigate this complex emergency by rapidly scaling and financing large programs to move more quickly in response to urgent situations.
“While this program has faced a highly charged politicized environment, DocGo is proud of how we served 32,000 unique asylum seekers through our work across HPD programs, and we are proud of our work serving asylum seekers in need in our hometown of New York City,” a DocGo spokesman said.
“We stand by the quality of our program.”
