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Q&A
Commissioner Savino and Director Chafee discuss elevating MOCS, payment issues, and refining Units of Appropriation
0:21:15
·
5 min
Commissioner Diane Savino discusses several points with IBO Director Louisa Chafee, including government succession planning, the rationale and potential effectiveness of making the Mayor's Office of Contract Services (MOCS) a charter agency, and the nuances of budget Units of Appropriation (UAs). Chafee argues elevating MOCS would increase transparency and accountability for contract registration, while payment delays often stem from agency-level invoice disputes, suggesting automatic partial payments as a solution. Regarding UAs, she advocates for a balance between the current overly broad categories and excessive granularity.
- Chafee suggests elevating MOCS would bring more focus and reporting requirements (like a procurement MMR), aiding transparency.
- She distinguishes MOCS's role in contract registration from agency-level issues where entire invoices are withheld over small disputes.
- Chafee recommends automatic payment of a percentage of invoices for nonprofits in good standing to ease cash flow issues.
- She clarifies the goal for UA reform is a 'sweet spot' between current opacity and unmanageable granularity, differing from the state's line-item approach.
Diane Savino
0:21:15
Now it's on.
0:21:16
Good to see you, Louisa.
0:21:18
I'm I'm very interested before I get into the two questions I have for you to talk to you afterwards about the potential report you have on what I call succession planning in government.
0:21:27
That is a challenge both not just for the city of New York, but for the state of New York.
0:21:31
How do we encourage people into the government service, into the civil service, and to make a career out of it?
0:21:36
It's not quite as attractive as it used to be.
0:21:39
When I started thirty four years ago, there was certain things that people thought a career in public service was gonna provide for you.
0:21:47
It's not exactly the same, and I think we're struggling against that as well as struggling against what I call the world of work exchanger.
0:21:53
People don't wanna be tied down to a a job five days a week.
0:21:57
Some of them are more interested in what they call the the gig economy or more of a independent contracts, but that's a conversation for another night.
0:22:05
There's two things that you talked about in your testimony that I'm interested in, and you've said it in, think, the answer to some people.
0:22:10
The idea of mocks becoming a chartered agency as opposed to just a mayoral agency.
0:22:16
I'm not quite sure how making that case, making it
Louisa Chafee
0:22:20
a chartered agency is gonna
Diane Savino
0:22:21
make it work any better.
0:22:22
So give me if you could flesh out why you think that would make a profound change in the ability to get nonprofit to make.
Louisa Chafee
0:22:29
I think that it elevates it to a level of importance where it would there would be more specific hearings.
0:22:37
There would be more specific reports forthcoming, as I mentioned, to the vice chair of thinking procurement, MMR would be very helpful because I think if you put transparency on issues, people tend to do a better job.
0:22:51
And not
Diane Savino
0:22:52
to play devil's advocate, but I will.
0:22:53
But every agency that mocks has to interact with that issues contracts, you've said yourself, some are better than others.
0:23:00
I'm really interested to hear which ones do it better than others, but they're all chartering agencies, and they can't seem to figure out how to get people paid once a contract is led.
Louisa Chafee
0:23:11
Right.
0:23:11
Well, there so there are different parts.
0:23:13
I mean, basically, MOX is is the engine that can push the initial contract registration of the finish line.
0:23:20
So that's really the intention to raise the agency so that that initial relationship of the contract being in place before the work starts is executed.
0:23:30
The payment is really at the issue of level.
0:23:34
And so there are two so my testimony didn't go into that nuance, But the agencies, generally, as many of you know, you submit an invoice, and maybe 85% of it is acceptable and 15 isn't, and the entire thing is not accepted until that 15% is resolved.
0:23:52
That's at the agency level.
0:23:54
And sometimes it's, you know, at a level of staff that doesn't really understand what the consequences are of holding such a payment.
0:24:03
I'm sure you occasionally get told because people haven't been paid All the time.
0:24:07
And they're and they're, you know, struggling.
0:24:10
So that's why we're suggesting that there should be some for a for nonprofits in good standing.
0:24:14
There should be some level of automatic once the invoice is submitted, then there's a little bit of nuance as to what's submitted.
0:24:21
But once it's in, a certain percentage should be automatically paid.
0:24:25
Mhmm.
0:24:26
Because the agencies are audit, and so one could pull back after the fact, but it would stop the cash flow issues, which in some of our government agencies put such extreme pressure on providers that, you know, they tap into bank loans and endowments and, you know, their, you know, boards that are philanthropists, etcetera, in a way that it's not fair.
0:24:51
The city's engaging for business.
0:24:53
The city should pay for the business.
0:24:55
You.
Diane Savino
0:24:56
And the the last question, so just.
0:24:58
On the units of appropriation, a lot of people don't understand what that means.
0:25:02
The city budget is different than the state budget, and I've offered one So on the city the city level, you have this unit appropriation.
0:25:08
It's a large amount of money to an agency.
0:25:10
We all talk about the NYPD.
0:25:12
They have the largest unit appropriation.
0:25:13
Doesn't line out what they're supposed to spend that money.
0:25:16
So are you suggesting that similar to what's done on the state budget level where you have the whole the eight localities where every every item that the state spends
Dr. Lisette Nieves
0:25:25
money on is lined out in, like, a lot of spending together?
Louisa Chafee
0:25:28
I'm suggesting a sweet point between the two.
0:25:31
So there needs to be a balance.
0:25:32
I would advocate a balance between UA is so large that a 23 precincts are in there Mhmm.
0:25:40
Versus so granular that they you know, if if each were on its own, one could imagine it being so granular.
0:25:46
It'd be very hard from a management perspective if one needed to boost money around staffing, etcetera.
0:25:52
So there's a there's a level to be found, and I my suggestion is that in 1989 when the EUAs began, the drafters had a different concept than what we currently have.
0:26:03
And particularly with some of the other budget practices that my colleagues are going to address, we're just concerned about circumstances where it's hard to understand some of the nuances because the overall buckets are so inverse.
0:26:15
Thank you.
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Commissioner Nieves and Director Chafee discuss management versus charter issues in procurement and emergency contracting limits
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Testimony by Michelle Jackson, Executive Director of the Human Services Council, on the nonprofit payment crisis and proposed charter reforms