The task force, which consists of three Republicans and one Democrat, has been gathering testimony on whether there was any misconduct in the procurement of StarCIO to lead the county’s fledgling IT department earlier this year. A group of Democratic elected officials in the county, led by Skoufis, accuse county officials of corruption and nepotism for the hiring, as the owner of StarCIO is the brother-in-law of county Human Resources Commissioner Langdon Chapman.
The task force had planned to discuss a draft report of its findings Monday, but that was derailed, in part, by Skoufis releasing his own findings on the matter. Republican Legislator Kevin Hines said the task force also obtained a letter from StarCIO’s attorney to include in its records, and the county legislature received a “stack” of contracts related to a previous IT vendor — not StarCIO — from an unnamed whistleblower.
"We're gonna be requesting significant records from the executive branch," said Hines. "And it should also be noted that nobody on this committee is aware of the name of this whistleblower, and will not be told the name of the whistleblower for protection purposes."
StarCIO was initially hired for two months’ work in January with a contract worth roughly $65,000 — but several months later, after multiple amendments to the contract, the county has spent more than $500,000. General Services Commissioner Samantha Swaikata, who oversaw much of the procurement, puts the maximum value of the deal at roughly $800,000.
No charges have been filed, and county officials deny any wrongdoing. Chapman acknowledged in his testimony that he was the one to recommend his brother-in-law to Director of Operations Alicia D’Amico when the county was beginning to look for a temporary IT director and consultant at the end of last year — but he says he didn’t disclose his relationship to StarCIO until after D’Amico and Sweikata expressed interest in moving forward, and he recused himself from the hiring process.
Skoufis, who chairs the Senate’s investigations committee, says in his report that the task force should be asking more questions on that front.
"How often does he make recommendations for no-bid contracts?" Skoufis wondered in an interview with WAMC. "How often do his colleagues reject his recommendations, or is it seen as a sort of unofficial directive coming from a superior? Because keep in mind, this is the county executive’s right-hand man."
Chapman is the fifth-highest ranking official in county government, according to the report. Skoufis alleges that it would have been Chapman’s responsibility to replace StarCIO with a permanent IT director, but the contract was allowed to renew and expand in scope over the course of the year.
The Democrat’s report also details what he sees as a number of discrepancies between StarCIO’s contract, past procurements, and county policy. Skoufis says the initial January deal was constructed in a way that gave StarCIO the upper hand, featuring an auto-renewal term requiring the county to give at least 30 days notice to avoid being invoiced for another two-months, while at the same time waiving a “termination for convenience” clause that Skoufis says is used in other consultant agreements. Put together, Skoufis says the county would have had just 11 days to cancel the contract after its signing to avoid auto-renewal — meaning the contract was worth $130,000 by the end of January.
The value of the agreement is significant because it partially dictates the county's procurement process. County Attorney Rick Golden testified that, because this was a professional services contract — and at signing it was less than $100,000 — the StarCIO deal didn’t require a competitive bidding process. Rather, the county “piggybacked” quotes from two other companies through the Government Service Agency.
Skoufis’ interpretation of county policy, however, would forbid the county from blending a company quote with prices pulled from the GSA: if the county was actively communicating and providing job info to StarCIO, then he says the other companies, Gartner and Securance, should have received the same treatment. Skoufis says both companies confirmed to his office that they weren't contacted by Orange County in late 2022 or early 2023.
Furthermore, Skoufis says a footnote on one of the price lists pulled by the county is dated July 2023 — months after the initial contract was signed.
"And that's putting aside the fact that these two other companies came in at prices that were significantly lower than StarCIO," he adds. "No one really asked the question, and pursued the question, 'Why did you choose the highest price?'"
Skoufis' report contends Securance and Gartner advertise their services for about $7,400 and $10,300 a month, respectively. Sweikata and D'Amico have cited the experience of StarCIO Owner Isaac Sacolick and his ability to provide temporary, on-site work in their reasoning for moving forward with the company.
Asked about the senator’s report Monday, Golden told the committee he still needs time to digest it. But from what he’s read so far, he said, “there’s a lot of things in there that are incorrect.”
"It’s certainly been clear, from this committee’s work and some of the questions, that our procurement policy can be improved upon," added Golden. "And contract administration, including payment of invoices, etc., needs to be further addressed."
Golden says County Executive Steve Neuhaus is putting together a group to consider updates to the procurement policy.
Skoufis’ report, meanwhile, calls for the immediate resignation of Chapman, a forensic audit of all county contracts by the New York state comptroller, and the creation of a comptroller’s office in Orange County. While the county doesn't have a comptroller, it is set to have a new IT director: the legislature’s personnel committee approved Neuhaus’ pick for the job, Glen Marchi, last month. Marchi is currently the IT commissioner for Dutchess County.
In a statement to WAMC, Chapman denied the allegations in Skoufis’ report, adding, “I was asked if I knew anyone in the digital transformation field, gave the only name I knew, and disclosed the relationship. People give references all the time, including people they are close to. I had no part in the actual decision to hire the vendor and Skoufis has not offered any evidence to the contrary.”
Chapman has accused Skoufis and the other Orange County Democrats of trying to get back at him for hiring the senator’s political opponent, Dorey Houle, after the 2022 election.
As for Skoufis, he says Houle never crossed his mind.
"I had offered to come in to speak to this committee. If they had called me in, I would have very happily offered to raise my right hand and testify under oath to the fact that Dorey Houle's name never came up one single time as I was releasing all of this information," Skoufis tells WAMC.
The task force did not say Monday whether it would be calling in more witnesses to testify, or when its next meeting will be. Hines said it all depends on what they make of the new report, and what they get from the whistleblower’s records. Asked for his thoughts, Hines said there are some aspects of Skoufis’ report that he disagrees with so far, but he declined to say which.
