The New York City Department of Investigation is probing billions of dollars the Adams administration spent to manage the migrant crisis, and is bringing in one of the world’s biggest accounting firms to look at the city’s books, according to officials and records.
The previously unreported audit kicked off in July 2023 and is set to run through December under a $6.9 million emergency contract between the DOI — a key watchdog agency — and accounting giant KPMG, which is serving as an “outside integrity monitor” of the city’s migrant services, including shelters and medical care. The goal is to ferret out any potential fraud, waste or abuse and protect taxpayer dollars.
The city has come under fire for a variety of questionable practices around the migrant influx that began in spring 2022 and has brought more than 180,000 people to the five boroughs. Much of the city’s spending on migrants has been cited for a lack of transparency as more than $7.6 billion in contracts are already in place and certain vendors face particular scrutiny over their prices and treatment of migrants.
The monitorship is meant to add independent oversight of the city’s expenditures. About 64,000 migrants are currently in the city’s care, according to official data, and most of them are families with children.
Under the department’s supervision, KPMG is responsible for reviewing hundreds of city contracts with private vendors, visiting sites weekly to identify issues and reporting any problems to officials. The firm’s duties include auditing roughly 30% of vendor invoices, interviewing shelter residents and staff and reviewing payrolls, a copy of its contract with DOI shows.
The contract requires KPMG to submit ad hoc and monthly reports to DOI, but spokespeople for the firm and department declined to comment on any findings.
Gothamist obtained the contract through a public records request with the city comptroller’s office, which is also monitoring migrant spending by the Adams administration. Comptroller Brad Lander has found millions of dollars in overpayments to contractors due to poor coordination among city agencies; is investigating the costs of the city’s 60-day shelter limits for migrant families; and is auditing the performance of a controversial major contractor.
City officials confirmed DOI is not coordinating with the comptroller’s or mayor’s offices on the KPMG audit. Department spokesperson Diane Struzzi said it used its emergency procurement powers to hire a monitor quickly and selected KPMG because it made the best offer out of five firms that submitted bids for the job.
“Since this is an ongoing monitorship, it would be premature to share real-time observations/findings from KPMG,” she wrote in an email to Gothamist.
A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams’ office did not comment on the audit.
KPMG’s contract includes up to two one-year renewal options, according to the document. The firm is responsible for auditing “any newly constructed shelter facilities to ensure contractor(s)’ compliance with contract terms and conditions” and “cross-referencing rosters of the residents among the various facilities to ensure that the city is not providing (and paying for) unnecessary or duplicative services.”
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