Opinion: The little-known city agency that roots out government mismanagement in big ways

Now, more than ever, the public hears about “waste, fraud and abuse” in sensational headlines that fail to capture the real-world nuances of these issues. But beyond the buzzwords and budget tightening, there is a lot of real work being done in city government to make sure taxpayer dollars are truly being used effectively. As a 15-year veteran of New York City government, I was thrilled when Mayor Eric Adams appointed me to his newly formed Mayor’s Office of Risk Management. Although most New Yorkers haven’t heard about us, we’re delivering for them in big ways. Here’s how:

Waste: A matter of efficiency

Adams created this office to find better, more cost-effective ways to achieve the same outcome. As such, our office’s mandate is to eliminate waste without compromising services. It’s the difference between what we pay and what we could be paying for the same result – and that margin is what our staff aims to eliminate. 

One example where our office has made real progress in cutting waste is private security spending – a large city expense and basic service that rarely makes headlines, because it shouldn’t. The city spends millions on private security for everything from homeless shelters to municipal buildings. While these services are essential for keeping people safe, agencies across the city have often handled contracts independently, sometimes paying above-market rates or more than their sister agencies for the same services. In recent years, our office reviewed these contracts, identified overpayments and off-market rates and helped agencies negotiate better deals. By eliminating excess costs, we’ve turned ongoing waste into a total of over $98 million in real savings for the city, with over $8 million in security contracts alone. That’s nearly $100 million that is going to services for New Yorkers where those services are needed and not to waste.  

Fraud: Taking taxpayer dollars for personal gain

When fraud is found, we must move quickly to help agencies resolve the issue. We act fast to uncover the root cause and implement solutions. Under the Adams administration, our office has taken a two-pronged approach to targeting fraud: we investigate fraud when it’s uncovered, and we also work proactively with agencies to root out the issue from emerging again. 

Unfortunately, vendor fraud can happen anywhere – from nonprofits providing human services to private construction firms – but fraud often leaves behind breadcrumbs that, if followed, can expose loopholes and mitigate risk. Drawing on years of investigations and operations experience, our office has developed simple, effective risk tools that help agencies spot red flags and identify common warning signs of fraud. Early detection by agencies is critical to minimizing fraud in the city, and empowering them to do that has been a central focus of our fraud prevention work. We train agency staff to recognize early indicators, such as unusual invoice patterns, and we help shape policies citywide to close loopholes and protect the city’s integrity. For example, our office conducted a review that led to federal criminal charges against nonprofit providers that were supposed to be delivering transitional housing for formerly incarcerated people, but were instead stealing tens of millions of dollars to enrich themselves. 

Another win for the people of New York City.

Abuse: Misusing authority or intentionally misallocating resources

Recently, our administration sought to eliminate the abuse of city vehicle resources through an initiative to reduce the vehicle fleet by 20%. Our office was brought in to support the Department of Citywide Administrative Services by assessing the actual need for each vehicle. During our review, we uncovered more than 1,000 vehicles from prior administrations parked at various agencies – vehicles that had been slated for auction but never removed. This wasn’t just an oversight; it was an abuse of resources, costing the city unnecessary maintenance expenses and keeping outdated, unsafe and high-polluting vehicles on the road. By identifying the problem, not only did we help redirect the city’s assets toward better use, ensuring needed replacements were made and paving the way for safer, more environmentally friendly electric vehicles, but we also added approximately $7 million to the city’s vehicle auction revenue that year.

Moving forward together

Eliminating waste, fraud and abuse is most effective when we do so without sacrificing services. Adams directed our office to make services better, not take them away, and that’s what taxpayers deserve. Our office has achieved remarkable results through our collaborative work with other city agencies, including the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services, with whom we co-chair a vendor compliance cabinet composed of citywide contract experts. We come together, discuss the challenges and collaboratively develop policies that fix the underlying problems. Once those policies are in place, we continuously monitor and enforce them to ensure accountability. This proactive approach – our way of rooting out the proverbial weeds of waste, fraud, and abuse – has been instrumental in the success of our young office’s work.