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Q&A
Council Member Ayala questions DSS officials on contract payment delays
2:13:27
·
6 min
Council Member Diana I. Ayala questions DSS Commissioner Molly Wasow Park and DHS Administrator Jocelyn Carter about contract payment delays to nonprofit service providers. The officials explain the complex reasons for delays and outline steps being taken to address the issue, including working with MOCS and holding individual meetings with providers.
- DSS acknowledges the seriousness of payment delays and their impact on nonprofit partners
- The average invoice payment time is around 28 days, but this doesn't capture all types of delays
- DHS has conducted 72 individual meetings with providers to identify and resolve specific issues
Diana I. Ayala
2:13:27
DHS's contract budget totals 33,700,000,000.0 which is nearly 90% of the agency's budget largely relating to shelter services.
2:13:36
HRA's contract budget is 1,040,000,000.00 which is nearly 9% of the agency's budget and includes programs such as domestic violence shelters, workforce development programs for cash assistance clients and food pantries.
2:13:48
Many nonprofits are struggling because city contracts do not provide for the actual cost of providing services and payments are often delayed.
2:13:57
In October of twenty four, MOCs launched a payment a payment backlog initiative focusing on clearing outstanding payments from fiscal year twenty three to twenty five.
2:14:05
How is DSS working with Mox to ensure that providers are receiving their outstanding payments?
Molly Wasow Park
2:14:11
Thank you.
2:14:12
This is absolutely a serious issue.
2:14:14
We know we can't do the work that we do without our not for profit partners and they can't do it if they don't get paid.
2:14:21
What a not for profit experiences as a lack of payment is frequently a symptom of a variety of different challenges on the city side.
2:14:31
So it could be a delay in contract registration.
2:14:36
It could be a delay in approval of a subcontractor.
2:14:39
It can be an invoicing issue.
2:14:41
It can be the processing of a new need and the approval through the agency and OMB.
2:14:48
It can be getting a contract mod actually processed.
2:14:52
All of these things are different, but at the end of the day they all have the same outcome in that the not for profit isn't getting the funding expect and need.
2:15:04
So what that means is that we are working across the board on all of those streams simultaneously really trying to make sure that we are processing invoices but also doing mods but also working with OMB on new needs, that full spectrum.
2:15:21
I can say we've put out hundreds of millions of dollars in cash into not for profit hands in just the last six weeks or so.
2:15:30
We've been really very, very focused on this, and MOX has been an important partner in this.
2:15:36
Already they've made a change to their technology and process so that instead of invoice review being a four step process, it's a three step process for DHS in particular that has made a huge difference and allowed us to move quickly.
2:15:51
One of the things that we know is coming later on this we hope fairly soon.
2:15:56
Right now if we want to process a mod, so we want to move money around, add money, there can't be any active invoices.
2:16:07
So providers have to make the choice about do they want to be moving invoices or do they want to be moving a mod, and it's a very challenging dance.
2:16:14
I think my understanding is that mocks is going be making some technical changes so that we can do things simultaneously.
2:16:19
That will make a huge difference.
Diana I. Ayala
2:16:21
I mean but it couldn't come fast enough.
2:16:23
Do you know what the average length of contract payment delays is and in number of days that the providers are experiencing and at well as that first.
Molly Wasow Park
2:16:32
Yeah so again what is a payment delay is actually can be the symptom of all of these different things, which are all tracked in different places and monitored differently.
2:16:48
So I don't have a number.
2:16:49
For invoices for DSS as a whole it's about on average twenty eight days from invoice receipt to payment.
2:16:56
It's a little bit shorter on the HRA side and a little bit longer on the DHS side and that's something we're working very hard on.
Diana I. Ayala
2:17:03
That's the average more or less?
Molly Wasow Park
2:17:04
For invoice payment, yes.
Diana Ramos
2:17:07
Okay.
Diana I. Ayala
2:17:11
I mean that's not necessarily what we're hearing from some of the providers and many of the providers are, you know, I mean have expressed concern that they will have to, you know, shut down operations because they simply can't make payroll.
Molly Wasow Park
2:17:27
We know we have a real issue and it's something that we're working on and I think it's this when a not for profit is not getting paid and I'm taking that on face value, I believe that their financial issues are real.
2:17:43
In some cases it's a problem with an invoice and there is certainly variation around that average.
2:17:48
But sometimes it is they can't invoice because we have a new need that has been stuck in the approval process for six months.
2:17:58
So the end result is the same for them.
2:18:01
They are not getting money that they need, but that particular issue wouldn't be factored into the average invoice process that I gave you because they actually can't invoice on that particular cost.
2:18:13
But DHS in particular has been taking doing some I think important engagement with not for profits, and Administrator Carter, you want to speak with that?
Jocelyn Carter
2:18:22
Thanks Commissioner.
2:18:24
And so Deputy Speaker, what we have been doing is meeting with each individual providers and we have done actually 72 of those individual meetings.
2:18:34
At the end of this month, we would have done virtually all.
2:18:36
We've done So, these are meetings where we have everyone in the room, right?
2:18:41
It's our programs folks.
2:18:42
It's our finance folks, it's our budget folks, we even had mocks in the room because we want to really look at where the holds, right.
2:18:48
And so it's, we've been, we don't want to work in silos anymore, right.
2:18:51
So, in that space we are pulling our password what's, where the holds so that we could figure out why things have not moved.
2:18:59
And so, we're also doing office hours.
2:19:01
It is, you know, and out of these meetings and what feedback we're getting is that they've really been helpful.
2:19:07
Our expectation for the next fiscal year is that we're in a better place than where we are this year.
2:19:11
We know that it hasn't been going well and so we have acknowledged that with our providers, but we think that, you know, this is why this is happening, but when we sit in a room with all of us in this space, we're like, oh, this is what the hold is.
2:19:23
And so, we've been doing these meetings every single week, actually every single day with the highest level of staff.
2:19:29
So, the first deputy commission is this person that's doing it actually with the on our DSS side, the lead there, Marx is there, Marx is there.
2:19:37
So, it you know, we really want to make this a place where we can resolve these issues and so we've put this in place.
2:19:43
The work is tedious.
2:19:46
The work is hard, but we expect the outcome to be a place where we're going into the next fiscal year in a better place.
2:19:52
So, you know we've taken this very, very, very seriously and intentional to make this you know that we can put some parameters in place and then we put structure.
2:20:01
We're also looking at is it the right way we've been doing this work, right.
2:20:04
You know we also have gotten away from it's you, tag it's you, tag it's you, but you know it's all of us to make this work better.