Public Employee Press

Liu sets up watchdog system

Comptroller John C. Liu plans to establish a contract monitoring system, which will provide good-government advocates and the union with another tool to fight sleazy contractors and protect civil service jobs.

Liu briefly described the system days after a new law on city contracting went into effect. He announced his plan Feb. 16 in his State of the City address, which DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts and Associate Director Henry Garrido attended.

The system will help uncover wasteful - and perhaps illegal - spending and check whether the city is meeting its obligations to provide opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses.

"We call for a new system to track government subcontracting ... that forces prime city contractors to be accountable for the performance of the subcontractors they use," Liu said. "This will help the city enforce prompt payment policies and more accurately track the actual spending with minority and women-owned businesses."