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Q&A
Discussion on the roles of a charter MOCS and the PPB in procurement reform
0:50:56
·
3 min
Commissioner Grace Bonilla questions Michelle Jackson about the potential for confusion if the Mayor's Office of Contract Services (MOCS) became a charter agency alongside the Procurement Policy Board (PPB), and how their responsibilities would be divided.
Jackson clarifies that MOCS would handle day-to-day invoicing and contract implementation, while the PPB would focus on procurement rules and bidding oversight, creating checks and balances rather than confusion.
Asked how a charter MOCS could improve worsening payment delays, Jackson explains it would have the authority to enforce uniform, streamlined processes across all city agencies, regardless of differing deputy mayoral oversight.
Grace Bonilla
0:50:56
Thank you, Ms.
0:50:57
Jackson, for, testifying.
0:50:59
I have a quick question.
0:51:00
There's been, implications to around whether making MOCs a charter of a charter of agency would create any confusion around the PPV and the, the responsibilities of MOCs.
0:51:19
Do you agree?
0:51:20
And what would you say would be the division of responsibilities among these two entities?
Michelle Jackson
0:51:25
Yeah.
0:51:25
Absolutely.
0:51:25
Thank you for the question.
0:51:26
I don't think there's confusion.
0:51:28
There's certainly overlap, which is something we see often in city government, and I think checks and balances are a good thing for there to be shared responsibility and oversight.
0:51:36
The procurement policy board is really designed to deal with procurement, which is how do we do competitive bids, how are we, you know, structuring oversight on the bidding process and who receives contracts, whereas Mox is really responsible for the day to day invoicing.
0:51:51
The PPP does not have a role, especially on a daily basis or even, you know, within a mandate to tell city agencies how to submit budget or how to implement something like the cost of living adjustment that human services workers got.
0:52:04
And so there really is a division of procurement policy board does wonderful set of work that does influence and mandate mocks to have certain responsibilities in terms of procurement.
0:52:14
But on the flip side, mocks does all the invoicing, auditing, you know, all of those kind of daily insights.
0:52:19
And and so there's certainly a division of those two responsibilities, and the PPP does have an oversight role if mocks were to overstep or not implement rules that the public thought as satisfying.
Grace Bonilla
0:52:31
And as a follow-up question, you your your testimony pointed to the fact that things are worse right now and that the sector is getting paid at even lesser rate than even last time you testified.
0:52:42
If mocks were a charter commit agency today, how do you think that would be different?
Elyse Mendel
0:52:48
Well, one
Michelle Jackson
0:52:48
of the things so I'm using data from the recent controller report just you know, I didn't do this myself, and they found that in eight agencies, that's kind of the worst it's ever been, or they are seeing, you know, more delays than they were at this time last year.
0:53:01
And those agencies include HPD, which is not under the deputy mayor for health and human services, but is under the deputy mayor for housing, small business services, which is under the mayor's office of operations, And, you know, DYCD is under the deputy mayor for strategic initiative and not health and human services.
0:53:18
The next mayor will divvy up the agencies in a different way to different deputy mayors.
0:53:22
And so there isn't cohesion among who has authority among deputy mayors to be able to implement something across the system.
0:53:30
So mocks today could say, we're streamlining invoicing.
0:53:33
We're doing it this way.
0:53:34
We're gonna establish a SWAT team to come in and, you know, clear the backlog.
0:53:38
We're gonna register contracts this way.
0:53:40
We're gonna open renewals this way.
0:53:42
And by having that authority similar to ONB tells people how to submit their money to them, mocks would be able to say across deputy mayors and across agencies the ways in which things could work.
0:53:52
And ideally and, you know, I think especially in the current administration, I think that would be remarkably helpful for there to be one agency really dictating those process.