GOSHEN- One of Orange County’s information technology vendors, UTC Associates, is questioning the integrity of a recently released report by the legislative committee that was convened to investigate IT contracts in the county.
The committee released a report last week that found county officials improperly procured a contract with a different IT vendor, StarCIO, that was the primary focus of their investigation. The report’s findings took an unexpected twist when the committee referred the contracts of a separate vendor, UTC Associates, to the State Comptroller for review stating it found reports of the company as a “failed vendor” from county officials troubling.
A company spokesman, Robert DiFrancesco, said UTC was unaware that it was a subject of the legislature’s investigation and said the report’s characterization of the company were false.
“We were never notified by the legislature that they were examining our performance and were completely surprised by the report. At no time were we asked to testify before the legislature or provide any documentation for their investigation,” he said. “The characterization of UTC as a ‘failed vendor’ is completely false, inaccurate, and unsupported by fact. UTC should have been provided the opportunity to testify and submit documentation for review.”
UTC has been providing IT services to the county since 2015. According to DiFrancesco, the company has received accolades for the services it provides and has never been put on notice for poor or non-performance. DiFrancesco said that the company even received special commendation for the development of an application during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic through which residents could schedule vaccinations.
When asked about the legislature’s referral of the company’s agreements to the State Comptroller, DiFrancesco said the company’s contract is fully compliant. “UTC is a federally approved vendor and its contract was procured through the U.S. General Services Administration in accordance with the law,” he said. He added that UTC holds many municipal contracts, several of which have been reviewed through routine audit, and deemed in compliance.
The recommendations of the report draw on testimony taken by the legislative committee from two county officials, Alicia D’Amico the county director of operations, and Samantha Sweikata, commissioner of general services. Both officials referred to UTC as a “failed vendor” but in their testimony offered no specifics as to the alleged failures. County Executive Steve Neuhaus had a different take, stating during his testimony that the concerns with the department were related to management, not vendors. “It is really a management problem, in my opinion,” he said. Neuhaus also said he personally hosted a meeting in May 2023 with vendors at which IT issues were “smoothed out.”
The report also called into question a quotation from UTC for IT services which, according to county officials, was used as a competitive quote when StarCIO was hired in January of 2023. “Upon review of this undated quote, it is unfortunately apparent that this quote was never intended to be used as one of the three quotes required to procure the StarCIO contract,” the report read.
When asked if UTC provided the quotation in question, DiFrancesco confirmed the company did not. “I do not know why or who would misrepresent a years-old UTC proposal as new; it’s just one of the many open questions not fully answered by this report.”
DiFrancesco said that UTC is in consultation with the company’s attorney and plans on formally responding to the report in the coming days. In the meantime, UTC continues to provide IT services to the county after StarCIO’s exit in January upon the expiration of their contract.
