Bloomy and Liu in $50M phone fight

Ron Antonelli/New York Daily News

In May, Liu granted Verizon a three-month extension of its Vesta maintenance contract — which was due to expire June 30.

City Controller John Liu and Mayor Bloomberg are still butting heads over $ 50 million the city says Verizon owes taxpayers for botched work on the 911 emergency system.

The repayment stems from restitution Verizon was supposed to make after it failed to deliver on time a new 911 call processing program known as Vesta.

The project was finally launched in December 2011 after months of delay — but the city’s yet to see a nickel of what it’s owed, Liu said. He also disputes the city’s figure of $ 50 million. By his count, Verizon owes taxpayers $ 59 million. With interest, that’s $ 63 million, Liu said.

In May, Liu granted Verizon a three-month extension of its Vesta maintenance contract — which was due to expire June 30.

RELATED: VERIZON FIOS GAINS AS TIME WARNER CABLE’S CBS BLACKOUT CONTINUES

But in a letter sent Sept. 19 to City Hall, Liu warned he won’t extend it again unless a settlement on the $ 63 million is reached.

A testy City Hall blamed the lack of reparations on the Controller.

“(He) is well aware that settlement terms with Verizon were reached many months ago and that delay by his office is the reason that the city has not been compensated — not Verizon or anyone else,” spokesman Kamran Mumtaz said.

Mumtaz said the city ceased payments to Verizon for the delivery of the Vesta software, which was plagued with problems from the get-go.

RELATED: VERIZON TO BUY STAKE IN WIRELESS OPERATIONS FROM VODAFONE FOR $ 130 BILLION

“Those payments will not resume until a settlement is reached to compensate the city,” Mumtaz said.

The issue is clouded, however, by the contract Verizon has for the maintenance of the Vesta system.

That’s the contract Liu extended for three months in May — and it will run out Sept. 30 unless it’s renewed.

Verizon has performed well on maintaining the system since it went live in 2011, Mumtaz said.

RELATED: ANDY TOLD: PAY MORELAND ATTENTION TO TELECOM BIGS

“It’s handled 20 million calls with 100% availability since its launch,” he said.

But Controller Liu said the settlement terms offered by Verizon for its faulty delivery of Vesta were unacceptable.

“Their terms were contingent on us giving them a long contract renewal, for several years, and we don’t settle in exchange for contracts. Our answer was absolutely not,” he said.

Liu said he approved the three-month extension in May — but is now out of patience.

“We didn’t want to interrupt any operations, especially since it’s the emergency call system. But it’s not disputed by anyone that Verizon owes the taxpayers. Where is that money?” he said.

Vesta is not the only program with poor performance in Mayor Bloomberg’s planned upgrade of the city’s antiquated 911 system.

In May the city went live with a new computerized dispatching system known as ICAD, which suffered numerous glitches. The Mayor’s ambitious 911 overhaul, started in 2004, was supposed to cost $ 1.5 billion but is now at $ 2 billion and counting.

gotis@nydailynews.com

Yahoo Local News – New York Daily News

http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=14669

via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info