State University of New York

College at Old Westbury: Services Provided by Hudson Design (Follow-Up Review)

In our prior audit report 2001-S-38, we examined the process used by the College of Old Westbury in hiring Hudson Design for three projects. We found that College officials either failed to comply with competitive requirements or failed to document the reasons why the company was hired. A result of these inappropriate and unsupported actions was the appearance of favoritism toward Hudson Design in the award of State-funded projects. At the time of our audit, the circumstances surrounding Hudson Design’s involvement in College projects were being investigated by the State Inspector General’s Office, and the Inspector General later issued a report stating that the award of the projects to Hudson Design was influenced by longstanding personal friendships between College officials and the principal official of Hudson Design. In our follow-up review, we found that College officials had implemented all the recommendations contained in our prior report.

For a complete copy of Report 2003-F-32 click here.