Stringer Punts on East Side Coastal Resilience Contract

For advocates of East River Park, a brief reprieve.

City Comptroller, and former mayoral candidate Scott Stringer did not sign the $1.2 billion construction contract with IPC Resiliency Partners that would kickstart city funding for the East Side Coastal Resilience project.

It apparently boils down to missing info and the review period having elapsed.

“As is the case with every contract, the Comptroller’s Office has conducted a thorough review and engaged with the City through a series of questions and answers to determine compliance with all applicable rules and regulations pertaining to this $1.2 billion contract,” Hazel Crampton-Hays, press secretary for the Comptroller, said in a statement. “Since we were unable to resolve all of our questions within the 30 day review period, our office has returned the contract to DDC to allow them additional time to address the outstanding issues.”

The tireless campaigning and lobbying by the East River Park ACTION advocacy group helped push this through.

Crampton-Hays also outlined the following questions that require clarification:

The agency has not ensured that all of the companies that comprise the joint venture have filed all of the required disclosures in the City’s PASSPort system as required by the PPB Rules and the NYC Administrative Code.

The agency set a 16% M/WBE utilization goal for this $1.27 billion contract, despite the City’s publicly stated goal of 30% of M/WBE utilization across all LL1 city procurement, and stated that this is the maximum percentage of the contract that could be subcontracted. However the vendor itself indicated that 32% of total work could be subcontracted. The Comptroller’s Office has sent follow up questions as to why the agency has not adjusted the goal to be higher.