PEF reveals savings of $99 million a year

ALBANY, NY (05/30/2012)(readMedia)-- The New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) today released its third in a series of reports on how much money the state wastes by relying on costly consultants to do the work state employees can do for less.

The report, "New York State's contracting out IT consultants: A plan to save $99 million by reducing IT consultant waste," reveals the state spent $419.7 million on information technology consulting services in state fiscal year 2011-12. If the state had hired state employees to replace about half of its IT consultants, the state would have saved $99 million a year.

"The average IT consultant costs at least $89 an hour," said PEF?President Ken Brynien. "That amounts to 59 percent more than comparable state IT employees, including the cost of their benefits."

The largest increase in any IT consultant spending category was for software maintenance which increased by 189 percent over the past 8 years. And when you look at hourly rates, the state Department of Taxation and Finance charged the state as much as $275 an hour for IT consultants.

"The quickest way for the state to reduce its IT consultant costs is to first focus on reducing the need for IT staff augmentation consultant contracts," Brynien said. "State agencies must include and enforce knowledge transfer provisions in all IT consultant contracts through the greater use of peer mentor training which is commonly used by private industry."

PEF is continuing to push for passage of the cost-benefit analysis bill (S3093/A5128-A) sponsored by Senator Joe Robach and Assemblyman Harry Bronson. The bill has passed the Assembly May 16. It requires state agencies to do a cost comparison to determine whether state employees could do the same work at a lower cost.

"New York State's contracting out IT consultants: A plan to save $99 million by reducing IT consultant waste," is available on the PEF website at www.pef.org.

PEF is the state's second-largest state-employee union, representing 54,000 professional, scientific and technical employees.