Overpriced consultants in overpriced space: While former Board of Education headquarters at 110 Livingston Street in downtown Brooklyn is almost vacant, new Dept. of Education pays $2.3 million per year to rent top two floors at nearby Marriott Hotel (above) on Adams Street for computer consultants. But do they get room service?

The Dept. of Education wastes $25 million per year by paying a parallel work force of computer consultants up to $5,000 a day. DOE “has become a cash cow for these companies,” says a city worker.

By ALFREDO ALVARADO

The luxurious Marriott Hotel symbolizes the commercial revival of downtown Brooklyn.

But for about 100 members of Electronic Data Processing Personnel Local 2627, the 28-story building signifies a threat to their livelihood and a huge waste of money by the city.

As many as a dozen of the 25 private computer consultant firms contracted by the Dept. of Education work out of the 27th and 28th floors of the swanky hotel alongside union members in the agency’s Division of Instructional and Information Technology.

“The Dept. of Education is using these consultants to decimate the civil service,” said one Local 2627 member, who requested anonymity.

The DOE is renting out the posh digs at the Marriott on Adams Street for a whopping $2.3 million a year.

“At a time of fiscal crisis, we think funds should be utilized in a more responsible manner by moving these pricey office spaces into one of the three buildings owned by the Dept. of Education,” said Veronica Montgomery-Costa, president of DC 37 and of Dept. of Education Employees Local 372. One of the DOE buildings, the agency’s former headquarters at 110 Livingston Street, is practically empty.

According to the new study, “We Can Do the Work II: Learning for Less,” issued by DC 37 in December, several of these consultants are being paid as much as $5,000 a day. The 200 or so consultant employees who work at the DIIT constitute a parallel work force earning from $100 to $300 or more an hour — many times the pay of equivalent city employees — said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

“The Dept. of Education has become a cash cow for these companies,” the Local 2627 member says.

The union’s study also found that most of the DOE consultants are employed every day of the working year, as evidenced by the warning rendered by the Internal Revenue Service, which was concerned that they were in fact employees, not consultants.

“Our members have trained many of these consultants, because they do not possess the expertise that would justify their existence or their replacements of civil servants,” said Ms. Roberts. “Our union members can perform these services with higher efficiency and at a much lower cost.” According to the study, eliminating the consultants and using Local 2627 members would save the city at least $25 million a year.