City pays $2M in settlement with Sandy subcontractor

City Hall paid $2 million in a settlement to a subcontractor it had accused of shoddy work during the post-Hurricane Sandy recovery effort.

The City hired San Francisco-based URS Corporation under the Build it Back program to manage applications for aid under the program, and paid the firm $3.5 million for its work in mid-2013. In a 2015 audit, Comptroller Scott Stringer’s office alleged that the firm had used unqualified employees, sent out incomplete applications and billed the city for incomplete jobs. But the firm had claims of $5.4 million against the city, and Stringer’s office claims it had no choice but to settle.

“That shoddy oversight and incompetent management has fundamentally exposed the city to legal claims — and therefore spawned this settlement,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “While families will still be in exile from their own living rooms this Thanksgiving, those running Build It Back have put the city in a tenuous legal position directing contractors to perform work off-contract.”

In its 2015 audit, Stringer had called the entire subcontracting system in the wake of the 2012 Hurricane “a case study in dysfunction.” [DNAinfo] — Konrad Putzier