Cayuga Community College's Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology is conducting work for the state Department of Environmental Conservation without having gone through proper procedures to secure the contract, state Comptroller Alan Hevesi said Thursday.

Hevesi released an audit blasting the DEC for hiring two organizations, including an entity tied to CCC, to provide floodplain mapping services. Such a contract should have gone through a competitive bid process.

The state signed the deal originally with CCC's Regional Application Center for the Northeast for $1.9 million. The work was later transferred to IAGT, RACNE's successor, and the contract value was expanded to $20 million.

The entities involved are now trying to establish a formal contract for the ongoing work.

DEC officials said the audit was politically motivated, a charge Hevesi denied.

For more on this story, read Friday's edition of The Citizen.