"Federal prosecutors accused Taylor of soliciting bribes in two schemes, including one in which a Florida businessman paid him tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts in an effort to secure a multimillion-dollar contract to put panic buttons in city schools. The sprawling contract was never awarded, but Taylor was able to secure the company a much smaller pilot program with the city through a noncompetitive purchase of $19,830, according to the indictment."
"An NYPD spokesperson said notices of the contracts signed with the company are posted on the comptroller's website, but the full contracts were not required to be filed with the office because they were micropurchases. "That means they can fly under the radar - there's less of a record to scrutinize," said Eleni Manis, the research director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. "This makes micropurchases easier to abuse.""
Councilmember Jennifer Gutierrez called for a review of contracts signed during the previous mayoral administration after a former NYPD inspector was indicted for soliciting bribes connected to a private technology company. Federal prosecutors allege the inspector solicited tens of thousands in cash and gifts to secure a multimillion-dollar panic-button contract that was never awarded; a $19,830 noncompetitive micropurchase pilot was obtained instead. Notices of the contracts appear on the comptroller's website, but full contracts were not required for micropurchases. Watchdog groups warn that micropurchases lack transparency and are vulnerable to abuse. City officials have not announced a wider contract review.
Read at Gothamist
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]