NEW YORK – New York City authorities have auctioned off surplus medical devices and protective products that were purchased with public money in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic at rock bottom prices competition, local newspaper The City reported on Tuesday.
The outlet publishes a survey of the auctions conducted by Eric Adams’ new local government since last summer and points out that so far many supplies have sold for as little as $500,000 than at the height of the pandemic, while they were rare, cost the city 224 million.
Among those supplies, he cites some 3,000 ventilators that then-Mayor Bill de Blasio had made that cost $12 million, which were never used and sold at auction in January for $24,600 – after being classified as “junk” that “doesn’t work” – to a company in Long Island, New York.
The City quotes a spokesperson for the local Directorate of Administrative Services (DCAS), which runs the auction, as saying the spending came in a time of crisis to create a 90-day supply of produce, and that a part of the surplus has been donated to NGOs and various countries.
The outlet attributes the current clearance sale to former mayor de Blasio hampering oversight of contracts to deal with the first wave of COVID-19 and suggests the city has paid millions for faulty goods or products that weren’t even manufactured, plus shelling out inflated prices.