Joint Legislative Committee on Economic Development
Written Testimony by Commissioner Jeanette Moy
January 30, 2024
My name is Jeanette Moy, and I am the Commissioner of the New York State Office of
General Services (OGS). Thank you for the opportunity to share the work that has been
accomplished since I last testified before the Legislature and discuss the impact of the
Governor’s Executive Budget on this agency.
Governor Kathy Hochul’s Executive Budget proposes $1.38 billion for OGS, which will
enable our agency to continue to advance her commitment to improving government
operations and services for all New Yorkers. The proposed budget allocation enables
OGS and our 1,900 employees to continue to provide operational support for State
agencies so they can focus on delivering their core missions effectively and efficiently.
Our services are vast. We manage 20 million square feet of the State’s real property
and 468 leases comprising another 12 million square feet. We provide shared
services—processing transactions for 44,000 State employees, managing $660 million
in annual budget for six client agencies, and administering human resource functions for
another 6,300 State workers. We also administer 1,500 centralized contracts with award
values up to $30 billion.
Under Governor Hochul’s leadership, we launched our five-year strategic plan last year,
outlining how OGS will increase transparency, customer service, sustainability, and
equity across our operations. The Executive budget will allow OGS to make
demonstrable progress in our agency’s plan, as well as our shared goals of making
government work better for all New Yorkers.
As a support agency, we aim to ensure New York functions efficiently by using data to
make informed decisions that allow the State to operate in the most competent and
cost-effective manner. Last year, we built out a Project Management Office to support
the Governor’s ambitious agenda for a more data-driven State government. This year,
we are standing up a Data Analytics Office, which, among other priorities, will allow us
to manage and enhance the State’s real property database and ensure the State is able
to use these assets in the most strategic and beneficial way. This will allow us to
support the Governor’s plan to identify and reallocate underutilized State property to
develop affordable housing throughout New York State.
Our real estate portfolio includes over 150 State-owned buildings and structures,
totaling more than $7 billion in assets that serve approximately 30,000 tenants and
hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Most State office buildings were built
between 1965 and 1975, and their critical systems are reaching the end of their useful
life. Investing in this portfolio is critical if we are to address deferred maintenance and
advance New York’s bold goals related to climate, workforce retention, and community
engagement.
We are working to make prudent investments to modernize these workspaces to meet
the needs of today’s State workforce. Recognizing that hybrid work is a part of the
modern workplace, OGS launched a technology and process pilot for ITS and OGS
employees in one of our buildings to explore options to better support hybrid work in
State offices. This year’s Executive budget will also allow OGS to improve our State
Capitol’s most prominent public spaces. In Fiscal Year 2024-2025, we will start the next
phase of Capitol Eastern Approach restoration project and complete work on the Hawk
Street Passage and Capitol Courtyard.
In addition to the significant work on OGS State facilities, our agency also provides
design, construction, and project permitting services to over 50 State agency clients.
Our current workload includes $1.4 billion in active construction projects and another $2
billion in design development. Last year’s successes included the completion of the
wedge wire screen system at the OGS Hudson River pumping station in Albany,
installation of the Ruth Bader Ginberg portrait in the Capitol’s Great Western Staircase,
construction of the first phase of the Adirondack Rail Trail for DEC, and substantial
progress in DMNA’s facility modernization efforts, from the designs for the Lexington
Avenue Armory to the groundbreaking of their field maintenance shop in Troy.
Across this significant footprint, we have been laying the foundation that will help the
State meet Governor Hochul’s climate goals. OGS was integral in implementing first-in-
the-nation Clean Concrete guidelines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in State
construction. In partnership with NYSERDA and NYPA, we’re managing a Statewide
program to convert the light-duty fleet to Zero-Emission Vehicles by 2035. OGS began
implementing telematics into our vehicles to improve performance and safety, while
providing greater insights into vehicle operations that will ultimately facilitate our
transition to a carbon-neutral fleet. We worked with agencies to craft their EV transition
plans and held the first EV car show for Fleet managers across the State.
OGS is also advancing Governor Hochul’s call for the State to lead by example as a
member of her Decarbonization Leadership Program. In partnership with NYPA, we are
developing plans to decarbonize major State facilities, including right here at the Empire
State Plaza (ESP). That plan will lay out steps to accomplish a projected 50 percent
reduction in carbon emissions at the ESP complex over the next 10 years and will
examine opportunities to achieve full decarbonization long-term.
If successful, this will lead to a meaningful reduction in emissions, improving air quality
and health for local residents in Sheridan Hollow. The Governor’s Executive Budget
includes $50 million for energy efficiency and emissions reduction projects in support of
the implementation of Executive Order 22, and we hope to use a portion of this funding
to further this important work at the Plaza.
As we restore our facilities and assets, we’ve also reinvigorated our programmatic
offerings, focused on agency and community partnerships, and adapted our events and
exhibits to be more culturally relevant and inclusive. We’ve expanded our annual in-
person tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and partnered with other State agencies,
including the Anti-Hate & Bias campaign from the NYS Division of Human Rights, to
curate culturally responsive programming throughout the State. These are steps to
make the State more equitable, by honoring and celebrating the diversity of our
communities across New York.
We are also working to improve the customer service experience for New Yorkers, in
line with the Hochul Administration’s focus on improving communications and
streamlining government operations. This year, we began the first phase of our e-
procurement initiative for our centralized contracts, and launched Bid Express for
electronic processing of our design and construction contracts. We hosted our first
GovBuyU, a fully online procurement conference for State agencies, authorities,
municipalities, and non-profits. Working with the Executive Chamber and ITS, we will
help establish a Statewide Customer Experience infrastructure for our agency partners.
We will build on the recent expansion of our Digital and Media Services Center,
ensuring that agencies have access to user-friendly digital products and services that
will allow them to better connect with New York businesses and residents.
This year, our Office of Language Access celebrated its first anniversary, launched a
statewide listening tour, and “Know Your Rights Campaign” for limited English-proficient
communities. The proposed Executive Budget will help establish a State employee
certification programs for oral and written language skills.
The Executive budget will enable OGS to continue making it easier to do business with
the State and to address our aging infrastructure, modernize our operations, and
support the New York State’s response to the complex challenges facing the State
today. Additional highlights from 2023 that demonstrate our progress and commitments
as an agency include:
Shared Services Provided to State Agencies
OGS provides shared services for state agencies through divisions that include
Procurement Services, the Business Services Center, the Project Management Office
(PMO), and the newly-created Data Analytics Office.
Our Procurement Services Group creates and manages centralized contracts that offer
goods, services, and technology to State agencies, municipal governments, schools,
and not-for-profits. OGS continues to be a leader in new and innovative contracting. It
successfully awarded technology contracts to over 200 vendors for hardware, software,
cloud, and implementation services in the Umbrella Manufacturer’s contract suite
designed to promote purchasing power at the speed of technology. This contract now
includes almost all of the premier technology brands in the country and modernized
cloud terms and conditions that are nation-leading.
In addition to these innovations, the previously mentioned implementation of e-
procurement will transform the way the State conducts business. This will ultimately
increase the speed, efficiency, accuracy, transparency, and accessibility of OGS
centralized contracts.
Our Business Services Center (BSC) has been New York State’s central office for
processing human resource and finance transactions daily across agencies. We are
investing resources to increase efficiencies. Delivering exceptional customer service to
our agency customers is one of our core commitments. To improve the efficiency of the
BSC, we piloted software and created a new contact center that will allow us to provide
better service to State agencies by allowing calls to be transferred directly to the BSC.
Our PMO team has developed and launched programs that will make government more
accessible by focusing on delivering common sense and data-driven solutions for New
Yorkers. We launched the Service-Disabled Veterans’ Enterprise System, which
automates several critical Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOB)
program functions. This system allows qualifying businesses to submit applications for
NYS SDVOB certification, renew their certifications, and update their company’s
information on the online searchable directory of certified SDVOBs. The new system
also includes tools to assist agencies and authorities with monitoring and managing
reporting compliance with 17-B and a platform for stakeholder communication.
Design and Construction for New York State
OGS provides design, construction management, contract management, emergency
contracting, code review, and permitting services to over 50 client agencies through our
Design and Construction division.
We take pride in our work for our partner agencies. In support of DMNA, we committed
$41.2 million in project funding to significantly improve New York State’s Army National
Guard facilities and the National Guard’s response to domestic and foreign
emergencies. We mobilized in response to storm-related emergencies at Bear Mountain
State Park for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation,
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and Greenhaven Correctional
Facility during last year’s historic floods, from installing a temporary to making
emergency repairs on roads, culverts and other public infrastructure. In support of
DEC’s public engagement for the $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clear Air, and Green Jobs
Bond Act, we’ve helped develop the roll out plan and managed the logistics for ten
public forums statewide. We have also launched the first phase of the Statewide gas
well decommissioning initiative by issuing work orders on 74 well sites.
Over the past year, OGS has entered into the final phase of the $9 million Hawk Street
Passage and Central Courtyard renovation project in the Capitol, restoring the passage
and courtyard to their original grandeur and protecting the vital building systems housed
directly below the courtyard.
We’re also working to provide greater transparency into our project portfolio for our
partner agencies and our vendors. This year, we launched our first ever Build NY
conference for potential vendors and contractors, sharing information about our project
pipeline, the State bidding process, and sharing information about the Minority /
Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) program and procurement opportunities.
Through this year’s Executive Budget, we continue to build out our communications and
engagement around our design and construction portfolio, to ensure that we have the
broadest possible pool of qualified vendors for our infrastructure projects.
Managing the State’s Real Estate Portfolio
We are responsible for the administration and daily operations of a portfolio of more
than 30 million square feet of owned and leased real property across 150 State-owned
buildings, parking garages, 31 surface lots, two power plants, hundreds of mechanical
and high voltage electrical spaces. OGS oversees the rehabilitation and conservation of
the State’s buildings, including about 200 preventive maintenance and capital projects
annually.
To meet the Governor’s commitment to unlock up to 15,000 units of housing on State-
owned sites, we created an inventory of surplus state property by geocoding over
10,000 of 14,000 real estate assets. This will allow the State to identify underutilized
properties that can be repurposed to create additional housing, in alignment with the
Governor’s State of the State proposal.
Thanks to the investments made by the Legislature and Governor Hochul in FY 21-22,
OGS has started work on the $175.5 million infrastructure package for the Empire State
Plaza to address the critical infrastructure needs, including health and safety issues,
electrical systems, conveyance systems, and structural repairs. In the past year, we
awarded multiple contracts to advance this work, including waterproofing at the New
York State Cultural Education Center (CEC) and fire alarm upgrades at the Empire
State Plaza.
Under Governor Hochul’s leadership and working with our agency partners and NYPA,
we continued installing new high-voltage equipment, switches, and systems as part of
the Empire State Plaza emergency generator improvement project, which will provide
additional emergency power. The project also completed the removal of the reaming
refuse boilers at the Sheridan Avenue Steam Plant site. The project results from
numerous meetings with the neighborhood and considers the impact of the existing
emergency power generation on the residents.
OGS will start the next phase of the restoration of the Capitol’s Eastern Approach,
including the Eastern Approach Staircase and the connecting North and South
Promenades, East Portico, and Executive Ramp. We will also complete the Capitol
Roof Project, which restores the center courtyard and installs new copper wall cladding,
windows, and roofing for the Hawk Street passage.
Improving the State’s Resiliency and Sustainability
Created in 2022, our Resiliency and Sustainability team provides technical assistance
and policy guidance to State agencies and authorities to ensure we meet Governor
Hochul’s ambitious climate goals. We have already made great strides in addressing
resiliency and sustainability issues that impact our State agencies. We are advancing
the Governor’s Decarbonization Leadership Program’s goals in the Empire State Plaza
and Harriman Office Complex. We are also a co-lead for the GreenNY Council,
overseeing the development of guidelines and reporting on the State’s sustainability
plan. We are also managing the implementation of first-in-the-nation Clean Concrete
guidelines, and launching an interagency working group to support the implementation
for State agencies.
The installation of electric chargers in strategic locations across the State will be central
to our ability to convert the State’s light-duty fleet to 100 percent EV Zero Emission
Vehicles by 2035. Through NYPA, we are currently planning the installation of 138+
new charging ports at 39 sites representing 10 agencies. With 121 ports currently active
at over 30 State facilities, this will more than double the number of available ports. We
are nearing completion of the State’s Clean Fleet Plan in partnership with NYSERDA-
funded consultants, which will provide State agencies with cost estimates and best
practices for EV operation and maintenance.
Increasing Language Access to Government Services
Launched in October 2022, the Office of Language Access (OLA) ensures that the
Statewide Language Access Law is implemented efficiently and effectively. With 2.5
million New Yorkers who have limited English proficiency (LEP), our office reaffirms
Governor Hochul’s commitment to ensure that every New Yorker has access to vital
information, documents, and services from the State government.
Since the launch of this office, it has supported covered agencies with over $300,000 in
funding for translating vital documents into French, Urdu, and additional languages
added by some agencies and collaborated with the New York State Department of
Health, Department of Labor, Department of Motor Vehicles, Department of Taxation
and Finance, Division of Human Rights, Office of Medicaid Inspector General, and
Office of Mental Health to add up to four languages to their list for translation of vital
documents, as provisioned in the language access law.
We created an Office of Language Access toolkit, including the “Your Language Access
Rights in New York State” brochure in English and 26 languages, the “I Speak” card, the
“Know Your Rights” landing page, and other materials to promote and facilitate the
provision of language access services. OLA works closely with 47 state agencies,
language services vendors, and community-based organizations that advocate for New
Yorkers with limited English proficiency.
To better understand the language access needs in New York and to make informed
programmatic planning, we conducted ten feedback sessions and listening sessions
with more than 20 community-based organizations advocating for language access
services from each of the 10 New York regions.
To support data-driven decision-making, we created the OLA dashboard for New York
State staff with data on non-English languages spoken at home by New Yorkers with
LEP by county. Working closely with the Governor’s Office of the Chief Disability Officer,
we created a first-in-the-nation American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation video
series of key documents from different agencies to increase access to important
information for the Deaf community with limited English proficiency who use ASL. There
are 73 ASL videos now available on the OGS YouTube channel, and the list will
continue to grow.
In the coming year, we will work to expand language access by creating a Language
Access Certification program, which will offer both written and oral language
assessments and training for State employees who speak a language other than
English.
Essential Support Services for New York State
OGS delivers support services for agencies, including central printing, consolidated
warehousing and distribution operations, dockmaster, emergency management and
planning, food distribution, mail and freight services, screening room, and State and
federal surplus property. These programs delivered by OGS Support Services provide
essential services to State entities, local municipalities, schools, emergency feeding
organizations, and the public. We also offer around-the-clock vital statewide emergency
response and recovery support following floods, fires, and weather disasters.
This past year, OGS conducted 35 State surplus vehicle auctions that generated $6.24
million in revenue. Our screening room screened more than 2.3 million packages to
ensure the safety and security of the Executive Chamber, Senate, Assembly, and
Empire State Plaza. OGS Consolidated Warehousing and Distribution Operations
partnered with OLA to create an asset storage, inventory, and distribution model. More
than 64,000 individual publications and 60 translation devices have been distributed
throughout New York State from the Menands Distribution Center.
We created a USDA Direct Delivery (Brown Box) Market, giving schools a new outlet to
use available funds. OGS also acquired additional Reach and Resiliency Roud 2 funds
and partnered with The Food Bank of Central New York to purchase two food locker
systems to help provide TEFAP foods in underserved areas.
OGS also saw the removal of 770,000 gallons of expired NYS Clean hand sanitizer that
was being stored on an unused runway at the former Oneida County Airport in
Oriskany. This was accomplished under a contract with Eastman Kodak to remove and
recycle the hand sanitizer.
Supporting New York State’s Workforce
Human Resources Management is responsible for assisting OGS business units and
hosted agencies in achieving their strategic objectives through thoughtful personnel,
labor relations, and training activities. This includes recruitment and retention, employee
engagement, diversity, labor relations, training, leaves, reasonable accommodations,
and onboarding and offboarding. OGS provides guidance to program areas on these
topics, as well as succession planning, COVID-19 guidance, organizational design,
analytics, and more as needed.
In April 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of New Jersey’s petition to exit and
dissolve the 1953 bi-state Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor. Following the
county’s ruling, New York State began exploratory research into transitioning the former
bi-state joint agency into a New York State executive agency. OGS worked with partner
agencies, the Office of the State Comptroller, the Division of the Budget, and the Office
of Employee Relations and Civil Service, to successfully onboard the commission’s 32
employees and establish the New York Waterfront Commission in July of 2023. We
continue to provide all hosted functions for the new agency.
We’re also innovating on the ways we support and develop our own staff. OGS
launched its new Frameworks Mentoring Program in January of 2023. A total of 69
mentees were matched with 55 mentors. In addition, the OGS Workforce Development
Office guided 20 employees through the Frameworks Mentoring Cohort, where
unmatched mentee candidates meet regularly with the training team and focus on
career development.
Prioritizing Digital Customer Experience
The New York State Digital and Media Services Center (DMSC) is a full-service
solutions provider that partners with New York State agencies, authorities, and other
entities to meet their communications and digital needs.
To deliver high-quality digital products and services to New York residents, OGS has
worked to establish a Statewide customer experience infrastructure and created a
customer analytics program. These tools are designed to improve the experiences of
New Yorkers interacting online with the State government.
In the last year, the Digital team has led or assisted in 14 agency website redesign
projects, including for the Board of Elections. We have assisted agencies with
organizing their website content, so the information aligns with the way users access
the information, as opposed to how the agency is internally organized. We provided
training and guidance around creating content that is accessible and uses plain
language. We have created more than 20 online forms for a variety of services and
programs and trained and created data dashboards for more than 40 State agencies,
helping the State meet the Governor’s commitment to improving the customer service
experiences for New Yorkers.
We will continue to build on the recent expansion of our Digital and Media Services
Center to make it easier for State agencies to do business with the center and ensure
agencies have access to user-friendly digital products and services that will allow them
to better connect with New York businesses and residents.
Delivering Art, Culture, and Programs that Connect and Inspire New Yorkers
We have also worked to develop and bring more inclusive cultural events to the Plaza
that showcase New York’s diversity. We restored the Black Arts and Culture Festival to
its original form, three days. We’ve created joint programs with the Office for the
Prevention of Domestic Violence, Office of Veteran’s Affairs, Office of Mental Health,
Office of People With Developmental Disabilities, Chief Disability Officer, and Chief
Diversity Officer.
OGS is responsible for curating and preserving the Empire State Plaza and the Harlem
Art Collections, creating interpretive exhibits, running the Capitol Visitor's Center, and
providing tours of the Capitol and the Plaza. We hosted 575 public tours with 15,169
participants, serviced 375 tour groups, and already have more than 60 group tours
booked for 2024.
Finally, I want to share that one of my important priorities has been to strengthen the
foundations of our agency across all aspects of our work, including people, process,
and, importantly, technology. We need to hire, recruit, develop, and retain talented staff.
We must work as efficiently as possible and get the best possible outcomes from our
vendors to advance the work of the State. We must focus on our customers, determine
whether we are meeting their needs, and adapt based on what they tell us. This
requires that we align our work accordingly and gather input regularly from the client
agencies we serve. It is an absolute honor to lead OGS’s talented and dedicated team.
Thank you for inviting me to provide testimony today.
