A COMPUTER consulting company that collected tens of millions of dollars from the city over the last decade could lose all its contracts because of questionable billing practices, The Post has learned.
Data Industries Ltd. has supplied computer personnel to numerous city agencies, from the Department of Education to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
It operated without much scrutiny until December, when special schools investigator Richard Condon reported the school system was cheated out of $1.5 million by a per diem computer consultant who “illegally schemed with DOE vendors to circumvent DOE contracting rules.”
Data Industries was one of those vendors.
In one case, Condon found a computer worker who was paid $25 an hour at the school system. But after two mark-ups by Data Industries and its subcontractor, the city was billed $78.75 an hour.
As a result of Condon’s investigation, officials from seven city agencies met Jan. 31 to decide on the next step.
“It was recommended that all contracts be terminated,” said one source. “Other investigations have substantiated findings” of questionable billing in other agencies.
Calls to Data Industries weren’t returned.
Three years ago, The Post was the first to raise red flags over the incredible sums the city was paying Data Industries. One of its consultants, Rafael Naveh, billed an astonishing $437,272 for his work at HPD in 2002.
At the time, HPD spokeswoman Carol Abrams defended the payment as routine. “The dollar amounts are consistent with the amounts in the state of New York procurement contract,” she said.
Naveh was let go in February 2005.
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Don’t bet too much that City Councilman Joe Addabbo (D-Queens) will take on Republican state Sen. Serphin Maltese, as Mayor Bloomberg so fervently wishes.
Bloomberg is out to get even with Maltese for supporting rival Tom Ognibene in last year’s mayoral race – and has tapped Addabbo as the guy to unseat him.
But insiders say Queens Democratic leader Tom Manton won’t take on Maltese, a longtime pal, unless polls show Addabbo has a real shot.
Queens Democrats, however, are eager to dislodge another Republican state senator, Frank Padavan, viewed as more vulnerable than Maltese.
Bloomberg has no animosity toward Padavan. In fact, the mayor donated $1,000 to Padavan’s campaign last October.
So the mayor won’t be happy to hear the candidate the Democrats want to replace Padavan with – Tony Avella, one of the few City Council members who voted against Bloomberg’s 18.5 percent property-tax hike.