City Comptroller Brad Lander on Wednesday applauded the Adams administration’s decision to wind down relations with controversial migrant shelter service provider DocGo, but said an interim replacement for the vendor is no bargain.
Lander warned that Garner, the Texas-based company set to temporarily take over DocGo’s shelters in and around New York City, still has “extremely expensive” rates for staff, according to a recent review from his office. One city agency pays more than $117 per hour for Garner security at migrant sites, for example.
Adams officials said the decision to drop DocGo, first reported by Politico, is part of a larger plan to cut costs for sheltering and caring for migrants. The move comes after the administration forged ahead with the $432 million, no-bid emergency contract with the troubled service provider last year, over the objections of Lander and other elected officials.
“On the whole, sticking so long with emergency procurement, rather than going with competitive bids, means you’re paying higher prices,” Lander said.
“This is what we think they should have done a year ago,” he added.
Under the contract set to expire on May 5, DocGo provides shelter and services to some 3,600 migrants across New York state. The administration plans to find a new provider through a competitive bidding process, according to city officials.
Abigail Rush, a spokesperson for DocGo, emphasized that the company would continue to work with New York City government on other contracts, including providing medical services and case management to new migrants.
“DocGo is immensely proud of the exceptional work that our team has accomplished and continues to perform in aiding the City’s response to this unprecedented crisis,” Rush said in a statement.
The city’s shift away from DocGo may have been spurred by necessity as well. The administration could not easily renew the contract with DocGo, Lander said. In November, the comptroller revoked the mayor’s emergency powers to enter into no-bid contracts for migrant services without his prior approval.
Concerns about DocGo
Lander has repeatedly criticized the company’s performance of the contract. And there have been other concerns. New York Attorney General Letitia James opened an investigation into allegations that DocGo mistreated migrants in its care, following a New York Times report. A New York Department of State investigation found over 50 security guards hired by DocGo’s subcontractors lacked proper authorization. The company’s CEO, Anthony Capone, also resigned last year following a report by the Albany Times Union that he falsified his qualifications.
The comptroller and other officials say the city needs to open up more migrant-related contracts for competitive bidding, rather than relying on expensive no-bid emergency deals. In the meantime, Lander said he granted the mayor’s request to temporarily extend DocGo’s contract to work in upstate facilities until the end of the year. The move provides time to wind down DocGo’s operations upstate and transition to working with local nonprofits.
Garner will temporarily take over DocGo facilities in and around New York City – a move that will save money. The daily price to house migrants would go down by $10 per person per night, compared to DocGo, city officials say.
Administration officials have repeatedly maintained that they’re doing everything in their power to cut migrant-related costs, estimated to reach a sum of $10.5 billion by 2025. Some 65,000 migrants are currently staying in city shelters and hundreds continue to arrive each day.
Adams has implemented 30- and 60-day shelter stay limits for migrants to help reduce the number of migrants staying in the city’s strained shelter system. And the city is in the early stages of a pilot program that, if expanded, could save $7 million a year in food costs for migrants in city shelters.
‘The real shame’
Camille Joseph Varlack, the mayor’s chief of staff, said ending the contract with DocGo will make room for the city to hire more nonprofits to shelter and assist migrants.
“We are constantly working to find new ways to better serve those in our care and manage this crisis in a financially responsible way,” Varlack said in a statement.
Chair of the City Council Immigration Committee, Council Member Alexa Avilés, urged the city to partner with more local organizations able to provide “culturally competent” and quality services and that have deep knowledge of the city.
“The real shame is the sheer amount of suffering that’s been allowed to take place under their watch,” Avilés said in a statement. “The City of New York needs to do better by its people.”
City officials, Lander said, are negotiating with the nonprofit Jewish Family Services to provide shelter and refugee resettlement services upstate, a move he described as “the kind of model we’ve been pushing the city to do here.”
Lander said the city’s efforts to help migrants transition out of the shelter system have been paltry. Resettlement services offer more “attention to what happens afterwards,” he said. That includes providing more help with legal cases, obtaining work authorizations and finding jobs.
Lauren Macguire, the vice president of development and community engagement at Jewish Family Services of Western New York, said in a statement that “various discussions with New York City have occurred” but nothing had been finalized.
A City Hall spokesperson would only say the administration is exploring all options.