Urban Institute Study Reveals Statewide & National Nonprofit-Government Contracting Issues
New York Ranks Among “Top 10 Worst”
The Urban Institute, in conjunction with the National Council of Nonprofits, has released its second annual national study today regarding government contracting and payment practices with nonprofits.
The report, National Study of Nonprofit-Government Contracts and Grants 2013: State Profile, provides essential National and State data on contracting practices.
Specifically within the New York State Profile, results demonstrated a particularly difficult contracting and payment environment for nonprofits. For example, in the section regarding Problems with Government Contracts and Grants, New York State did not fair well in the national rankings, as can be seen below:
- 6th worst for complexity of/time required by reporting process
- 8th worst for Government changes to contracts/grants midstream
- 4th worst for having late payments beyond contract specifications
“The numbers confirm what nonprofits have been experiencing for many years and what the State Comptroller and Attorney General have previously reported,” said Doug Sauer, CEO of NYCON.”
“Despite having a prompt payment law on the books for well over a decade and initiatives intended to streamline the process, the State of New York is failing to responsibly honor its contractual commitments as a business and service partner with charities.” Sauer observes that “as a result of these policy failures, much needed services in the community are being disrupted or not provided as promised, the financial viability of many charities is threatened, and some charities are forced to use donor dollars to ‘float’ the State’s treasury.”
There is a bright side, however. New York State has made notable efforts to streamline the contracting system. The largest and most well-known effort has been the New York State Grants Gateway, providing a common contract process for all state agencies and an online prequalification process for nonprofits applying for grants.
NYCON has also been working with state and local government officials and nonprofit leaders to strengthen the government-nonprofit partnership in various ways. Specifically, NYCON has become a major supporter of Assembly member Steven Englebright and Senator John DeFrancisco re-submitted Prompt Contracting Interest bill, entitling nonprofits to prompt contracting interest dues from state agencies.
For more information on NYCON’s current Prompt Contracting initiative, Nonprofit Revitalization Act Resources or any other Public Policy issue, please visit our newly redesigned website or contact our Program and Policy Associate, Amber Vanderwarker.