Buildings Department audits plunge as agency closes loophole

The Department of Buildings’ audits of project applications have plunged, but that’s in part because its new filing system closes a loophole that cheaters exploited, the agency says.

In fiscal year 2022, which ended June 30, the agency only audited 1.6 percent of permit applications for construction code compliance, according to the latest Mayor’s Management Report. Three years ago the number was 13.4 percent, and it has dropped steadily since.

Not to worry, the agency says.

Many of the audits it once did are no longer necessary because its new system, DOB NOW, has eliminated some options for abuse. Filers cannot leave critical project information blank to give a contractor leeway to do something it shouldn’t, because the system won’t allow those defective applications to be submitted.

According to the agency, this was a “consistent problem” on projects that were professionally certified, a program that allows architects and engineers to self-certify that building plans abide by the city’s building code and zoning.

Self-certification speeds up projects by cutting out the need for a city examiner to sign off on plans, although all are checked for zoning compliance.

The old Building Information System, or BIS, which is being phased out, received scans of PDFs, which had to be eyeballed for omissions and mismatched information. Professionals could omit or fudge information to hide the true nature of a project, and then if caught, claim it was an oversight and usually retain their self-certification privileges.

DOB NOW limits the options available based on the type of project. For example, on an alteration project, features associated with an enlargement job are not an option. Filers also cannot submit applications with certain sections blank.

Ways to cheat remain, however, and the Department of Buildings plans to increase its audits of filings. However, the report says, DOB NOW “does not yet have an audit module to record statuses of an audit or the workflow controls for relevant enforcement actions.”

A spokesperson for the agency said audit controls will be introduced to DOB NOW next year.

In the past, many audits have led to disciplinary action. Nearly half of the jobs audited in 2022 resulted in notices threatening to revoke the professional’s self-certification privileges, though those involved the limited number of projects that are still filed in BIS, including demolition permits.

In the previous four years, between 29 percent and 44 percent resulted in threats of revocation.

But the Department of Buildings expects to see far fewer non-compliant jobs because the new website eliminates the loophole in BIS, which is already freeing up plan examiners to do other work.

“Our DOB NOW system was specifically designed to automatically identify many of the same issues we were previously finding in our BIS audit program, and is already helping the Department to analyze and sort out erroneous applications,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Filers might yet find other ways to cheat the system, though the agency could find issues during inspections later on, which could hold up the project.

The self-certification program was started during the Giuliani administration in the 1990s and drew criticism for its potential for abuse, leading to more controls and crackdowns by regulators. At least 23 architects and engineers have voluntarily surrendered their professional certification privileges this year after being called out by the agency for violating the program’s rules.

Each fiscal year from 2018 to 2022, between 56 percent and 61 percent of permitted jobs were professionally certified. Mayor Eric Adams has said that further streamlining the building process is a key goal of his administration.