ALBANY – The Hochul administration skirted competitive bidding by quietly amending a contract with a high-powered consulting firm to boost their deal to an eye-watering $1.1 billion, The Post has learned.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Department of Health had initially handed Deloitte Consulting a $177 million contract in 2023 to centralize a part of the Medicaid application process that was still being handled by counties into one statewide portal.

But the contract ballooned well beyond that as the administration amended the deal by $866 million in August — a move watchdogs say should have triggered a public bidding process.

“For a contract expansion of…

Read the full article at NYPOST.COM