NYC Comptroller Lander rejects Rikers road repair contract after DOC let winning bidder jack up price

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander rejected a multi-million dollar road repair contract for Rikers Island after the Correction Department allowed the winning bidder to inexplicably jack up the price, the Daily News has learned.

Lander sent a letter Thursday to DOC denying the three-year contract after the winning bidder, Stasi Industries, was allowed to increased its $2.7 million bid to $4.5 million after it was awarded the contract.

The second lowest bid, from Road Work Ahead, and the third lowest, from New York Asphalt, were both for more than $4.9 million, significantly higher than the Stasi Industries bid.

The comptroller’s office also objected to ties between Stasi and the second-lowest bidder, Road Work Ahead, because Stasi’s principal, Crescenzo Stasi, is related to Road Work’s principal, Luigi Stasi. The ties went undisclosed in the Correction Department’s documents to the comptroller’s office, according to Lander’s letter.

“DOC’s award of this contract to Stasi, despite a litany of procedural failures and contract shortcomings, undermines the principles of fairness … designed to protect public monies and preserve confidence in the City’s procurement ecosystem,” Lander wrote.

DOC officials did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The contract controversy began Dec. 19 when Mark Grae, a lawyer for the third lowest bidder, New York Asphalt, sent a letter to Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie complaining the two other firms had an “unfair competitive advantage” and called for an investigation.

“Notably, Stasi and Roadwork are purportedly owned by two brothers, Crescenzo Stasi and Luigi Stasi,” Grae wrote. “These two companies could be, in reality, the same company. Stasi and Roadwork may be alter ego companies and have certain common elements of ownership, management, employees, office space and equipment.”

But, the comptroller’s office states, correction officials failed to thoroughly investigate the New York Asphalt complaint.

Luigi Stasi of Road Work Ahead said he and Crescenzo Stasi are not brothers but third cousins. “His company has no affiliation with my company,” he said. “We’re distant relatives and that’s it.”

Crescenzo Stasi told The News he didn’t know the contract had been rejected.

“It was a clerical error as far I know. Our bid was still lower than the others,” he said.

Both companies are based on Long Island. Stasi Industries has an address in Old Bethpage, while Road Work Ahead’s offices are about 11 miles away in Westbury.

The contract was for on-call repair of road surfaces, curbs and sidewalks at various DOC facilities on Rikers Island and in the Bronx.

DOC asked for the contract to be registered May 23, and the comptroller’s office sent it back unsigned on June 21.