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City Limits Magazine


November-December 2011:
Beyond City Time

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Private Contractors in New York City

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Justice
Government
Author
Adrienne Day
Adrienne Day
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This is not Alvarez & Marsal's problem anymore—if it ever was. The firm's contract with the DOE specified that the city "assumes responsibility for the implementation of any restructuring proposal,' which department employees "are assigned to implement or select.' But legal niceties aside, the firm has moved on, physically. Right around the end of the school year that was punctuated by the bus episode, The Washington Post ran a story about an audit that the District of Columbia had ordered.

"The audit will cost $3.3 million and be performed by two management consulting firms: Alvarez & Marsal and McKinsey & Co.," the article read, adding that Board of Education president Robert Bobb "said he began considering an audit of the system shortly after he took over the school board in January, adding that he had interviewed several potential firms and favored Alvarez & Marsal."

"That company has worked with school systems in St. Louis, New York City and New Orleans, although its work has included some highly publicized missteps, including the creation of consolidated bus routes that left students stranded. Bobb defended the selection of the auditing firms, saying Alvarez & Marsal has learned from its mistakes and will not repeat them in Washington."

Research support for this project was provided by the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute.