(ALBANY) - The New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) has released its third in a series of reports on how much money New York State wastes by relying on costly consultants to do the work State Employees can do for less.

The report - New York State’s Contracting Out IT Consultants: A Plan To Save $99 Million By Reducing IT Consultant Waste (which is available at www.pef.org) - reveals New York spent $419.7 million on Information Technology (IT) Consulting Services in Fiscal Year 2011-12.  

If the State had instead hired State Employees, PEF Representatives contend, to replace about half of its IT consultants, New York would have saved $99 million a year.

“The average IT Consultant costs at least eighty-nine dollars an hour,” said PEF President Ken Brynien, who heads New York’s second-largest State-Employee Union, which represents 54,000 Professional, Scientific and Technical Employees.  “That amounts to fifty-nine-percent more than comparable State IT Employees, ‘including’ the cost of their benefits.”

The largest increase in any IT Consultant Spending Category was for Software Maintenance, which increased by 189% over the past eight years.  And when you look at hourly rates, PEF Officials point out, the State Department of Taxation and Finance charged New York as much as $275 an hour for IT Consultants.

“The quickest way for the State to reduce its IT Consultant Costs is to first focus on reducing the need for IT Staff Augmentation Consultant Contracts,” Brynien said.“State Agencies must include and enforce knowledge transfer provisions in ‘all’ IT Consultant Contracts through the greater use of Peer-Mentor Training which is commonly used by Private Industry.”

PEF is continuing to push for passage of the Cost-Benefit Analysis Bill (S3093/A5128-A) sponsored by State Senator Joe Robach and State Assemblyman Harry Bronson.  The Bill has passed the Assembly May 16th.  It requires State Agencies to do a cost comparison to determine whether State Employees could do the same work at a lower cost.