By GREGORY N. HEIRES

The city is ending outside contracts for hundreds of computer consultants and moving them into civil service positions. The shift comes after DC 37 exposed wasteful contracting out practices in a series of White Papers issued by Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

Municipal agencies plan to hire at least 353 computer consultants into city payroll slots, savings millions of dollars.

• The Administration for Children’s Services plans to save $1.2 million by moving 102 consultants into full-time city positions.
• The Dept. of Social Services expects to save $5.6 million by converting 251 consultant positions to full-time staff.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg did not make a public announcement of the move or credit the White Papers for the impetus to cut back on consultants, but information on the plan came out in his Fiscal Year 2004 Executive Budget and in testimony by administration officials at City Council hearings.

In addition, the Dept. of Education has offered full-time jobs to about 20 consultants recently, said a shop steward from Data Processing Personnel Local 2627 who works there.

All told, the city is apparently considering shifting up to 1,000 consultants into civil service positions, the Daily News reported. That would save $15 million in the next year and up to $75 million over the next few years, according to the newspaper, which quoted unnamed top aides in the Bloomberg administration.

“We’re happy the administration is listening to our message that there are huge savings to be made by cutting contracting out expenditures,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

Over the past year, DC 37 has released four White Papers that have identified how the city loses hundreds of millions of dollars through wasteful practices and the use of excessively compensated consultants, including computer consultants who earn salaries as high as six-figures.

Partly as a result of the White Papers, the city is quietly canceling or not renewing a number of outside contracts, said DC 37’s Henry Garrido, who has coordinated the union’s research into contracting out and waste with DC 37 Associate Director Oliver Gray.

The DC 37 White Papers prompted media coverage of out-of-control spending on computer consultants. After White Paper II was issued in December, the Daily News ran an article showing that at least a dozen Dept. of Education computer consultants earn more than schools Chancellor Joel Klein’s $250,000. DOE then terminated an IBM specialist who earned $385,000 a year.

“The hiring is a good step, but our concern is that this process must be carried out in a way that respects the civil service process,” said Local 2627 President and DC 37 Secretary Edward W. Hysyk.

“There are outstanding civil service lists for computer positions at several agencies, and the city must consider the people on those lists as it decides to hire on new workers,” he said.