In shopping for the model new Ford Expedition Platinum – with heated leather-trimmed seats that vibrate and a Bang & Olufsen stereo system with 22 audio system commonplace – the division bypassed metropolis guidelines which say automobile procurements utilizing minority and woman-owned companies ought to happen by way of the Division of Citywide Administrative Providers, data present.
The mayor’s workplace signed off on the acquisition and the probation division says it broke no guidelines.
However on June 25, in a letter to Probation Common Counsel Bridget Hamblin, Comptroller Brad Lander’s workplace revoked the company’s proper to register contracts with M/WBE companies. The letter is titled “Revocation of Department of Probation Delegation to Self-Register M/WBE Small Purchases.”
The company will now must acquire a sign-off from Lander’s workplace for these contracts.
“Our office has determined that DOP’s purchase of a 2023 Ford Expedition Platinum Vehicle, procured pursuant to the M/WBE Small Purchase Method and self-registered and filed with our office on October 25, 2023, failed to comply with procurement rules and (the) law,” wrote Charlotte Hamamgian, Deputy Comptroller for Contracts.
Hamagian went on to notice DCAS “explicitly” prohibits businesses from utilizing the M/WBE small buy methodology for objects below $1.5 million to purchase autos. Solely DCAS could make these purchases.
“Our office must feel confident that an agency has the capacity to comply with all procurement rules, laws and procedures to avoid the risks of corruption, fraud, waste, and abuse,” Hamamgian wrote. “For the reasons set forth below, our office is not confident that DOP has this capacity.”
Probation Commissioner Juanita Holmes. (Barry Williams for New York Each day Information)
Hamamgian additionally famous below Holmes, Probation has been registering 77% of its M/WBE contracts late – after the contract dates had began. Data present Probation did this for instance in reference to the hiring of Slender Safety to supply armed guards at borough workplaces for the company.
That $2.4 million deal was cut up into 4 separate contracts and the guards began working Jan. 27 earlier than the formal approval course of was full in February, data present.
“This claim is entirely false,” Graham mentioned. “The Comptroller’s Workplace has not formally revoked the Division of Probation’s authority to self-register all contracts, and Commissioner Holmes by no means circumvented established procurement procedures.
“For their safety in their official capacity, the city procures vehicles for public safety agency commissioners, and the cost for this vehicle is in line with those purchases. We always follow all local, state, and federal laws and procedures in our work to keep New Yorkers safe.”
Graham added that Holmes “had no involvement in the purchase of the Ford Expedition.”
Holmes was appointed by Mayor Adams in March 2023 after she was moved out of the NYPD below hearth for permitting rapper Cardi B to talk on the Police Academy.
On Oct. 6, 2023, DOP official Rick Tibbetts sought Metropolis Corridor approval to bypass the foundations “to purchase a specialized vehicle” from Schultz Ford Lincoln in Rockland County. Tibbetts argued the worth was “fair and reasonable.”
Michael Garner, Mayor Adams’ chief enterprise range officer, signed off on the acquisition. On March 25, Hamblin used the Mayor’s workplace approval to argue the acquisition was acceptable.
Holmes tenure has been punctuated by chaos, excessive attrition throughout the probation officer ranks and excessive turnover within the higher ranges of the company.
Initially Revealed: July 30, 2025 at 10:26 PM EDT
