New York and New Jersey, early hot spots during the COVID-19 pandemic, have so far refused to release detailed breakdowns of their spending on personal protective equipment and medical equipment during the first insane months of the virus outbreak.
The administration of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said the state spent $ 830 million through nearly 400 contracts on protective gear and durable medical equipment from March to November.
An online database maintained by the state controller’s office contains basic information about those deals, including supplier names and the dates and amounts of payments.
But state officials for months denied public records for purchase orders that would reveal elaborate details, such as how many masks, coats, and fans it ordered from each supplier, how many orders were fulfilled, and how much it recovered from failed deals.
Across the country, reports from The Associated Press found that from the time the virus began spreading in the US until the summer, states have spent more than $ 7 billion on personal protective equipment and high-quality medical equipment such as fans and infrared thermometers. Much of that expenditure was made outside the normal competitive bidding process and had not previously been disclosed.
Every state except New York and New Jersey responded to AP’s request for public records by providing a detailed breakdown of expenditures and suppliers.
“That’s public information in black letters,” said Bill Hammond, Senior Fellow for Health Policy at the Empire Center for Public Policy. “There is nothing more clear what the public is entitled to than how their money is being spent.”
The AP first asked for details of spring purchases, but Cuomo’s records never provided them. Cuomo’s budget office asked AP in July to formally file a petition through New York’s open records law. Since then, the administration has sent the AP monthly messages saying it needs more time to search and review records. The latest estimate was mid to late January.
Cuomo’s office and the Ministry of Health did not respond to requests for comment to explain the repeated delays.
New Jersey also failed to issue orders for personal protective equipment because complying with the request would “be substantially disruptive to the agency’s operations.”
The state has provided a one-page document showing that it spent $ 164 million on 153 million devices, including masks, gloves, safety glasses, beds, and even mortuary vehicles.
“Due to the number of contracts and purchase orders responding to your request, it would significantly disrupt the agency’s operations to collect each individual contract or purchase order, identify the specific source of funding, and check for any necessary changes prior to production. The health ministry said in response to the AP’s request.
Failure to provide complete transparency on COVID-19 purchases leaves unanswered how much money states are spending on needed items that quickly skyrocketed in price and how far they turned to untested suppliers at a time when the federal government largely abandoned such purchases the states.
Cameron Macdonald, executive director of the Government Justice Center, said the data could also shed light on questions surrounding the state’s stockpile of protective equipment and medical supplies prior to the pandemic.
“Nobody knows how many of those expired, how many they played in the spring,” he said.
At the end of March, several states had suspended customary contract award safeguards amid heated competition between states, provinces, hospitals, and even other countries for fans and equipment to protect front-line medical workers.
Cuomo promised companies that could help produce protective clothing for New York that they would not face “bureaucracy.” He sent executives to China as part of an effort to purchase 7,000 fans, but warned the state still needed federal help: “We’ve tried everything else.”
Some specific purchases have been publicly confirmed by the Cuomo government to the media. This includes $ 122 million in payments to Dome International in Brooklyn for the projected 5,700 fans and $ 69 million to Silicon Valley businessman Yaron Oren Pines.
But few details about those purchases have been released. Cuomo assistants have said the state was trying to recover some or all of the payments made to companies that did not produce the promised equipment.
“While the vast majority of the goods were received, there were a few instances where items ordered were partially or completely undelivered,” said Office of General Services spokesman Heather Groll.
About $ 223 million has been recovered so far, she said in a written statement.
She declined to specify what orders were not fulfilled and how much money the state is trying to get back, saying it “does not want to compromise its negotiating powers by providing details.”
The AP looked up purchase orders with the seller’s name and address, date, description of items purchased, number of items purchased, and price.
The New Jersey Government Records Council, which oversees the state’s public records law, “normally requires custodians to provide immediate access to budgets, bills, vouchers, contracts.” (New Jersey refers to purchase orders as vouchers.)
“It is very disturbing that they would deny access to payment vouchers, which are typical public records that help people keep track of how tax money is being spent,” said CJ Griffin, a New Jersey attorney specializing in public records.