New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s former transit accessibility chief violated ethics rules by revealing confidential information to a vendor during a competitive bidding process, an MTA watchdog report said.
Alex Elegudin, a senior advisor in the MTA’s New York City Transit division from 2018 to 2020, relayed details to taxi technology provider Curb Mobility LLC and potentially jeopardized a $579 million contract to provide paratransit rides, according to Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny.
In what investigators considered an apparent try to enable Curb Mobility to change its pricing figures and submit a new offer, they said Elegudin sent multiple emails to NYC Transit and procurement executives claiming that the scope of work under the request for proposals needed changing and asking bidders to resubmit their best and final offers.
Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit
“Giving an unfair advantage to anyone in the public procurement process is wrong, but it is especially egregious for an MTA executive and vendor to do so, in a way that potentially jeopardizes a critical paratransit initiative,” Pokorny said in a statement.
The MTA sustained no financial loss because of the matter, her office said.
New York City Transit has excluded Curb Mobility from future authority contracts, calling the company “non-responsible.” The company intends to appeal the determination.
Elegudin left the MTA last September. Reports said he intended to work as an advisor to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but Elegudin told media outlets that the offer was withdrawn in light of the investigation.
“This senior advisor knew he was breaking agency and New York State ethics policy by disclosing confidential information and trying to devise a way for a vendor, with whom he’d had a long-term relationship, to get a second bite at the apple during the procurement process,” Pokorny said.
Senior investigative attorney Maureen McCormack and senior financial investigator Stephen Tortorella conducted the investigation.
“NYC Transit takes very seriously the integrity of the procurement process, which is why this was referred to the inspector general immediately upon learning of the matter,” MTA press officer Meredith Daniels said. “Mr. Elegudin is no longer with the MTA.”
The state-run authority operates New York City’s subways, buses, commuter rail and several interborough bridges and tunnels and is one of the largest municipal issuers.
Elegudin, 37 and a wheelchair user, joined the MTA in June 2018 and was one of the first hires under then-NYC Transit President Andy Byford. Only 25% of subway stations complied with Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines at the time, and Byford termed accessibility improvements as one of four pillars of his “Fast Forward” modernization plan.
Byford left the MTA in February 2020 and is now the commissioner of Transport for London.
Elegudin previously co-founded two nonprofits related to disability advocacy and was also an accessibility program manager at the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission.
NYC Transit’s paratransit division provides transportation to riders with disabilities through its Access-A-Ride program, which includes certified and ADA compliant broker car services, including taxis and for-hire vehicles.
As demand increased for broker-based car services for paratransit, NYC Transit issued a new RFP in April 2020. The proposed contracts were for a three-year term with an option for NYC Transit to extend the contract for up to two additional years, totaling about $579 million across all selected vendors.
McCormack and Tortorella reported that an Elegudin subordinate who sat on the selection committee “unwittingly set this chain of events in motion” when she told Elegudin on Aug. 27, 2000, that Curb Mobility’s prices were too high for any contract award.
Elegudin, the report said, relayed the information to the company’s vice president of mobile, Jason Gross, and then lied to a superior when asked about it. “Elegudin then asked Gross ‘What the hell? Do you not want MTA business anymore?’” the report said.
On Sept. 4, the committee awarded the contract to four other parties, although the MTA the three months later restarted the bidding process unrelated to the investigation.
Elegudin told Pokorny’s office that his response was a “mistake,” according to the findings. “He knew that he had in fact called Gross, and ‘it was spinning out of control.’ ”
Elegudin took responsibility and apologized for the call to Gross, the investigators said. The MTA placed the report in Elegudin’s personnel file.
Curb Mobility said it has hired outside counsel to conduct an internal investigation and is updating its ethics code.