The authors of a report on New York’s pandemic response are barred from discussing their findings with media under a provision of their contract with Governor Hochul’s office, records obtained by the Empire Center confirm.

“Contractor agrees not to issue any press releases, give or make any presentations, or give to any print, electronic or other news media information regarding the services [i.e., the pandemic review] without the express advance written approval of the chamber,” said a provision of the contract, which the Empire Center obtained from the office of Comptroller Tom DiNapoli under a Freedom of Information Law request.

That language confirms what the group’s president, Kyle Olson, said to the Albany Times Union in June – that he could not respond to criticisms of the New York report, from DiNapoli and others, because the firm had signed a non-disclosure agreement with the state.

The clause makes clear that Hochul could easily waive the restriction if she chose. Also, it does not appear to prevent Olson from discussing non-confidential parts of the report with people outside the media, such as elected officials and private citizens.

The Hochul administration initially said that the Olson Group’s work would be overseen by the commissioner of the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, Jackie Bray. However, the contract was signed with the Executive Chamber, a formal name for the governor’s office, and it designates the primary contact as Hochul’s deputy chief of staff, Alexandra Greene.

The full contract is posted here.

Separately, DiNapoli’s office disclosed that the Olson Group has received $3.4 million in payments under the contract, which authorized spending up to $4.3 million. 

Since its publication on June 14, the Olson report has come under fire, including from this writer, for its superficial research, copious factual errors and dubious analysis. 

In an Times Union op-ed last month, DiNapoli said the report “failed to provide the rigorous, fact-based examination New York deserved, nor does it provide a roadmap for future improvement.” He continued:

The Olson report is a missed opportunity to provide answers or restore confidence in New York’s emergency planning. It is replete with large and small errors and omissions — most egregiously the undercounting of those who died in nursing homes. Without a thorough and accurate assessment of New York’s pandemic response, based on reliable research and thoughtful analysis, we will not learn from our mistakes and successes. Instead, the report leaves us without answers, and it particularly failed those who lost people in nursing homes who at the least want the deaths of their loved ones to have been counted.

The contract and accompanying documents largely focus on the various legal mandates that all contractors are required to follow – such as complying with ethics laws, trying to hire various minority groups and preventing sexual harassment. 

It says that the state’s specific requirements for the research and analysis would be spelled out in separate agreements known as “statements of work.” These were not part of the documents released by the comptroller.

The Empire Center has requested copies of the statements of work from the governor’s office.