Mayor de Blasio is accusing a company that had been vying for an NYPD body camera contract of trying to “smear” the winning bidder.
It’s the harshest language de Blasio has leveled yet in describing the sharp-elbowed battle between Vievu, which is slated to get the contract, and its competitor.
“A lot of information has been put out to try and denigrate the company involved. That information has been put out largely by one of its competitor companies,” de Blasio said at an unrelated press conference in the Bronx.
“I don’t think it’s the first time in the history of the free enterprise system that we’ve seen one company try to smear another.”
Although the mayor did not mention the competitor by name, Taser International has been lobbying hard to take over the contract.
De Blasio said he expects the deal with Vievu to move forward “on schedule” in spite of Comptroller Scott Stringer raising objections Friday.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Larry Byrne said Stringer’s office was exceeding its authority.
“The comptroller’s role in reviewing all contracts including this contract is to make sure that the procurement process was run correctly,” he said. “He’s raised no questions about any of those issues.”
Stringer spokesman Tyrone Stevens declined to elaborate on specific questions it has on the contract, but said “it’s our charter-mandated responsibility to ensure that any contract is free of possible waste and fraud.”
“We want to be fully confident of the contract’s integrity, and we want to be certain there are no investigations, legal questions, or otherwise on the matter,” he added.
There was no immediate comment from Taser.
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