New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services

Sale and Disposal of Surplus Assets

The New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services is responsible for the disposal of surplus assets held by New York City agencies. Surplus vehicles are sold at public auctions, certain other items are sold to contractors at set prices, various miscellaneous items are advertised for sale and sold through competitive sealed bids, and items with no value are discarded or destroyed.

We examined whether the Department properly accounted for and maximized the revenue from its sale and disposal of surplus assets. We found that the Department properly accounted for the revenue received in the sales transactions we tested. However, we also determined that, if the Department made certain improvements in its practices, it could increase the amount of revenue it earned from the sale and disposal of surplus assets and better ensure that certain assets were properly valued when they were disposed of. For example, we found that the Department could likely generate additional revenue if it was permitted to sell surplus assets on the Internet. We estimated that this additional revenue could total as much as $600,000 a year. We also found that, in some cases, the Department could realize more revenue from the sale of surplus vehicles if it sold the vehicles for scrap.

For a complete copy of Report 2008-N-17 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.
For a copy of the associated follow-up report click here.