Funding withdrawn for Suffolk disaster technology project

Five days after the Bellone administration said it would try to complete a technology project ahead of a state deadline, the Suffolk County executive Tuesday withdrew a resolution funding it.

The project, approved for a $69,825 State Archives-administered grant last summer, called for a plan to ensure seven technology-reliant departments could operate in a disaster.

Mineola-based Bowne Management Systems wrote the grant application, which was signed off on by Suffolk information technology commissioner Donald Rodgers. If awarded, the application said Bowne would do the work. No request for proposal nor an RFP waiver were granted in conjunction with the work -- out of step with county procurement policy and practice, according to more than a dozen present and former county employees and officials.

The county's education and technology committee was to consider accepting the grant and appropriating the money for the project at its meeting yesterday morning. But 90 minutes ahead of its scheduled start, assistant deputy county executive Tom Vaughn emailed legislators that the resolution would be withdrawn.

No explanation was given after Legis. Tom Cilmi (R-East Islip) asked during the committee meeting. County spokesman Justin Meyers later said "upon further evaluation," the county concluded "it's potentially possible we wouldn't be able to finish by the [state's] June 30 deadline."

"Because we didn't want to start something we couldn't finish, we've decided to first approach the state for an extension," Meyers said.

The grant application guide says awarded projects must be completed with funds spent by June 30 each year. Award money not used by June 30 is returned to the fund for the following year's awards. "All work on grant projects must be completed by June 30; no extensions are granted," Chris Ward, assistant commissioner for State Archives, told Newsday last week.

Last Thursday, Suffolk spokeswoman Vanessa Baird-Streeter said the county still intended doing "everything in our power to ensure the work is completed in the required time frame."

Meyers said Tuesday Bowne's drafting of the grant application came at zero cost to the county. "They [Bowne] identified the grant and said the county could be eligible and offered to prepare the application on their own dime," he said.

Suffolk has paid Bowne and its affiliate just over $2 million from 2011 to 2013, comptroller's office records show.

The Suffolk County district attorney's office served a subpoena on the county legislature on Feb. 19 seeking records relating to Rodgers' appointment and testimony regarding a proposed multiyear, $5 million software deal with computer giant Microsoft. Rodgers, along with Deputy County Executive Tom Melito, was a proponent of the failed deal. Rodgers reports to Melito, who was vice president at Bowne Management Systems before joining the Bellone administration.

With David Schwartz