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Dormitory Authority Performance Measurements:

1.      Recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce that that has the knowledge and skills necessary for DASNY to execute its mission statement successfully and cost effectively.

2.      Delivery of DASNY’s construction and financing services in a manner that meets or exceeds customer expectations regarding quality, timeliness and price.

3.      Development and implementation of new and innovative programs that are consistent with DASNY’s mission statement and that better enable DASNY to meet or exceed customer expectations regarding work, product, timeliness and price.

4.      Keeping DASNY financially stable with revenues sufficient to meet costs and to maintain adequate reserves.

5.   Successful implementation of DASNY’s Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises and sustainability programs.

Dormitory Authority of the State of New York

Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2011

Operations and Accomplishments

Mission Statement

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) will be the public finance and construction partner of choice, providing customers with low-cost quality sources of capital and facilities delivered on time by a responsive, innovative team of professionals.

Executive Leadership

During fiscal year 2010-11, several important management initiatives were accomplished by DASNY:

·         Operating Budget

Given the documented fiscal challenges faced by the State, DASNY has taken reasonable steps to reduce our operating costs and expenses, demonstrating a clear commitment to “doing more with less.” We continue to examine programmatic ways to lower the cost of operations, while maintaining a professional staff capable of executing our mission and serving the public interest. DASNY’s 2011-12 operating budget was approved by our Board at the March 30, 2011 Board meeting. The total adopted operating budget decreased by 1.81 percent, with internal operating expenditures decreasing by 1.9 percent, or $1.59 million. Of the internal operating decrease, Personal Services decreased $.44 million. A projected $2.7 million increase in our NYS pension and health insurance obligations was offset with a $3.1 million reduction in salaries and social security. The budget also decreased funding in several Maintenance and Operations categories including: business travel, corporate insurance, training, professional services and computer services/equipment. The total Maintenance and Operations budget decreased by 10 percent, or $1.15 million.

·         Project Labor Agreement (PLA)

DASNY has been engaged in negotiations with the Building and Construction Trades Council (BCTC) regarding a PLA that would govern DASNY construction projects for State and other governmental entities in the five boroughs of the City of New York. Upon completion of these negotiations, DASNY will undertake the necessary analysis to establish the savings expected to inure to the State for projects covered by the PLA.

In addition to including the same basic terms that were included in the PLA negotiated for the Bronx Psychiatric Center project and other terms necessary to reduce the cost of the covered projects, this new PLA will likely include changes that promote other important public interests of DASNY and the State. These terms include:

(1)  Local Hiring: The PLA would include a provision that, absent any contrary federal requirements, union employees residing in the vicinity of the project would be given preference in hiring for the project. The inclusion of a local hiring provision was urged by elected officials and community groups;

(2)  Supplemental Benefits: The PLA would include a provision that, subject to ERISA, non-union employees of MWBE contractors would have the option to withdraw contributions made on the employee’s behalf to a union benefit fund;

(3)  Full Mobility: The PLA would include a provision that MWBE contractors who are bound by the PLA and are required to hire union employees could, absent any contrary federal requirements, request the same union employees that worked on previous PLA projects for the MWBE contractor.

(4)  Bring-Along: The bring-along provision (which has not yet been fully negotiated) is expected to provide non-union MWBE contractors with more flexibility to utilize their “key” employees for prime contractor or sub-contracts which have a value equal to or less than $5,000,000. It is expected that the new provision will allow the MWBE contractor to “bring-along” the first employee to serve as foreman for the contractor and that four of the next nine hired could also be non-union key employees. Any additional employees required on the job by the contractor would be union employees.

·         Corporate Governance

The Public Authorities Reform Act of 2009, together with the Authorities Reform Act of 2005, imposed numerous compliance and reporting responsibilities upon State public authorities. DASNY is in compliance with all material provisions of these enactments and continues to review and evaluate policies and procedures to determine if additional steps are required. The Authority Reform Act required each state authority to adopt a mission statement and performance measurements and to review them on an annual basis. DASNY has reviewed and re-adopted its current mission statement and performance measures and expects to undertake a wholesale review during fiscal 2011-12.

In response to the enactment of Chapter 506 of the Laws of 2010, DASNY updated its Governance Principles, created a Finance Committee and adopted a Charter for that new committee. The Finance Committee is charged with reviewing all new DASNY financings and financing programs, as well as our Tax Exempt Leasing Program transactions. It makes recommendations on the aforementioned items when they are considered by the DASNY Board.

·         Legislative and Regulatory Matters

Chapter 506 also enacted Public Authorities Law §2879-a, relative to the Comptroller’s approval of public authority contracts, and the Comptroller subsequently proposed regulations to implement this section. DASNY submitted comments on the proposed regulations, indicating that those actions had the potential to increase the cost of, and delay the completion of DASNY construction projects. As the Comptroller did not incorporate many of DASNY’s suggestions in the regulations as finally adopted, these regulations have the potential to increase the cost of projects that DASNY undertakes for the benefit of the State. DASNY has communicated our intent to work out any future issues in regard to implementation of these regulations with the staff of OSC to minimize any such adverse impacts.

In addition to pursuing the enactment of the DASNY Program Bills approved for introduction relative to increasing the MCFFA Bond Cap (A.6446/S.4200) and authorizing the Authority to create subsidiaries as necessary to assist in workout situations (A.6445 / S.5656), the Authority focused on three other major legislative issues of importance to it and its various stakeholders.

The first of these issues relates to the proliferation of Local Development Corporations (LDCs) created for the purpose of issuing conduit debt and the adverse effects that this proliferation will have on public accountability and lost revenues to the State and DASNY. The Public Finance Authority, recently created by the state of Wisconsin, is another example of this phenomenon. We urged the State, in conjunction with the Independent Authority Budget Office, to review this matter and to enact legislation that sets forth appropriate limits on the role of LDCs with regard to the issuance of conduit debt and also makes LDCs comply with the same standards of transparency and accountability as other State and local issuers of conduit debt. DASNY also believes that such legislation should confer upon DASNY the flexibility to issue bonds for a broader array of 501(c) (3) organizations.

Another key legislative issue being pursued by the Authority relates to one of the preliminary recommendations of the 2011 Preliminary Report of the Mandate Relief Redesign Team. Among other things, the team indicated that the cost of local public works projects could be reduced by 15 percent or more if a regionally negotiated PLA were implemented such that local projects subject to the PLA would get the benefit of the Wicks law exemption contained in Labor Law §222. DASNY believes that further cost savings could be afforded by both the State and its local governments if projects subject to a PLA could also avail themselves of alternative delivery systems, such as “construction manager at risk” or “design-build”. Under these alternative delivery systems, the public owner could negotiate a maximum project price and a firm delivery date with the contractor thereby transferring the risk of various contingencies to the contractor with resultant savings to the public owner. We continue to work with other public builders, such as Office of General Services (OGS), State University Construction Fund (SUCF), Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), to advance the general interest of reforming the State’s construction procurement and delivery laws. Consideration should also be given to the enactment of legislation that allows public builders to work cooperatively on projects that are potentially under the purview of more than one public builder so that overlapping projects can be accomplished in a cost effective manner.

·         Records Retention Project

DASNY is currently undertaking a Records Retention project and conversion to a Paperless Office/Enterprise Content Management system. Scanning of all active construction contracts and change orders is almost complete and professional service contracts and their amendments are the next document sets to be scanned. Scanning is being done by clients of the New York State Industry for the Disabled and staff from our vendor, e-BizDocs. DASNY expects to scan more than 100,000 documents over the course of the next year.

·         Construction Division’s Organizational Structure

During fiscal year 2010-11, the Construction Division fully implemented the reorganization announced in early 2010 to better meet the needs of DASNY customers and deliver services in a more efficient manner.

·         North General Hospital (NGH)

North General Hospital filed for bankruptcy and closed in July 2010. A Chapter 11 Trustee was appointed by the Bankruptcy Court on March 31, 2011 and filed a revised Plan of Liquidation on June 3, 2011 that is expected to be confirmed and effective in the very near future. Upon the plan becoming effective, DASNY, through its subsidiary described below, will take title to property of NGH and lease the main building to New York Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) and convey other parcels to HHC and Institute for Family Health (IFH).

In accordance with Chapter 561 of the Laws of 2010, which became effective on December 10, 2010, DASNY established a subsidiary (NGHP Holding Corporation) for the purpose of limiting the liability of the Authority in connection with the exercise of remedies by the Authority against NGH. The purpose of this subsidiary, which was organized as a public benefit corporation, is to acquire title to the property formerly owned by NGH so DASNY is insulated from any potential liability that could arise from directly taking title to this property. The subsidiary, NGHP Holding Corporation, held its organizational meeting on March 30, 2011.

·         Regional Councils

At the end of March, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that 10 Regional Councils will play a pivotal role in the State’s overall economic development plan and implementation, and legislation was enacted creating this program. We have provided extensive information requested by the Governor’s office to be used by the councils and also identified staff resources which could be made available to assist in the implementation of the Regional Council initiative.

Public Finance

·         Bond Financings

DASNY delivered over $5.4 billion par value of bonds and notes during fiscal year 2010-11, ending with an outstanding bond portfolio of approximately $43.6 billion. Of the total bonds outstanding, 55.8 percent are on behalf of public programs (such as State-supported debt and school districts), 24.8 percent are on behalf of independent higher education institutions and other not-for-profits and 18.8 percent for independent health care. Additionally, five bond reofferings/conversions comprised of six series of bonds, totaling $254.8 million were sold during fiscal year 2010- 1.

During fiscal year 2010-11, 61.2 percent of the total par value of bonds delivered by the Authority was for its public clients, such as the State University of New York (SUNY), the City University of New York (CUNY), other State Agencies and School Districts. DASNY delivered a total of $3.3 billion of bonds in fiscal year 2010-11 for its public clients. The largest public client bond issues included: three issues of State Personal Income Tax Revenue Bonds for various programs and clients totaling $2.3 billion; $335.1 million for New York State Public School Districts; $222.7 million for State Service Contracts; $196.2 million for City University of New York and $161.3 for Municipal Health Facilities.

DASNY also delivered a total of $2.1 billion of bonds in fiscal year 2010-11 for its independent, private-sector clients. The largest issues on behalf of private-sector clients included: $331.2 million for Mount Sinai Hospital Obligated Group; $301.1 million for The New School; $300 million for Columbia University; $285 million for Cornell University; $130.9 million for NYU Hospitals Center; and $102.2 million for St. Mary's Hospital for Children, Inc.

·         Tax-Exempt Equipment Leasing Program (TELP)

The Authority’s Tax-Exempt Equipment Leasing Program (TELP) is one of the largest of its kind in the nation. During fiscal year 2010-11, the Authority executed more than $182 million in 17 leases for our customers’ telecommunication, information technology, diagnostic, and other medical equipment needs. Since the program’s inception, DASNY has helped clients secure more than 388 leases to finance more than $2.4 billion in equipment including MRIs, CT scanners, computer systems, energy efficiency and other high-tech equipment.

Public Finance Initiatives

·         Single Approval Financings - At the January 26, 2011 meeting, the DASNY Board approved a proposal to allow the financings of highly- rated frequent borrowers to be considered by the Board at one meeting rather than require a two meeting review process. This process will enable the Authority to respond to borrowers’ desire for more timely market access while also ensuring that the staff undertakes the same level of due diligence and the Board is provided with the same amount of information necessary to make decisions and to enable the Board to fulfill its fiduciary duties under the Authority Reform Act.

Set forth below are several federal tools and resources the Authority used in fiscal year 2010-11:

o   Bank Qualified Bonds: ARRA also expanded the favorable treatment of a certain type of tax-exempt bonds, commonly known as a “bank qualified” bonds (BQBs). Specifically, ARRA made two major changes in the rules governing eligibility for designation of tax-exempt bonds as BQBs, both of which apply solely to bonds issued in calendar years 2009 and 2010. First, the $10 million per calendar year limit on issuance was raised to $30 million for 2009 and 2010. Second, BQB eligibility was determined in 2009 and 2010 at the conduit borrower level and not at the issuer level. The advantage of a BQB is that since the bank is able to deduct 80 percent of the carrying cost of the investment, the tax-exempt interest rate on a BQB can be set lower than on a similar tax-exempt obligation that does not qualify for BQB status. This change in tax law provided an opportunity for DASNY to help not-for-profit borrowers. Accordingly, DASNY’s Board authorized DASNY’s staff to pursue a private placement program under which DASNY would issue BQBs for the benefit of eligible borrowers and place them with an interested bank.

·         Pledged Revenue Assessment Bonds/Workers Compensation Second Injury Financing – In 2007 the Legislature passed a law making significant changes to the Workers’ Compensation Laws including reductions in workers compensation premiums, closing the Special Disability Fund/Second Injury Fund to new claims and other provisions related to reducing the liabilities of the Special Disability/Second Injury Fund. Pursuant to this legislation, DASNY was given the authority to issue revenue bonds for various purposes including funding the cost of transferring some or all of the liabilities of the Special Disability Fund to one or more insurers (contract awards) and to fund lump sum settlement payments to individual claimants (waiver agreements) to extinguish future claims payments. Financings under this program help the State manage the costs of the Special Disability Fund thereby limiting the financial impact on employers who are required to carry Workers’ Compensation insurance. The Authority worked with the New York State Division of the Budget, the Workers Compensation Board, the Insurance Department, the Tax Department and other professionals to structure the financing. In fiscal year 2010-11, the Authority issued $102.4 million of Pledged Assessment Revenue Bonds.

·         PIT Bond Program Changes – The 2010-11 New York State budget authorized DASNY and the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) to issue PIT bonds for all programs that may be financed under the PIT program. Authorization was also included that provided DASNY with the ability to issue PIT bonds for one year for facilities for the Office of Mental Health (OMH), Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) and Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS). Previously, facilities for OMH, OPWDD and OASAS have been financed with Mental Health bonds. The budget also authorized DASNY to issue PIT bonds for Mental Health purposes for an additional year. 

Other Financing Issues

·         Investment Policy and Guidelines Review – The Authority engaged Public Financial Management to review our investment practices for consideration in the next fiscal year. The Authority’s Board approved changes to the Authority’s Investment Policy at its Board Meeting on September 22, 2010. The most significant changes dealt with reducing liquidity and credit risks, increasing investment flexibility by allowing for the investment in Build America Bonds and reducing the minimum equity capital requirement of Broker/Dealers so as to enhance opportunities to conduct trading activities with MWBE firms as consistent with the recommendations of the EO 10 Task Force.

·         Finance-related Procurement

Broker/Dealer Request for Proposal

The Authority expects to issue a request for proposal in the first quarter of 2011 to Broker/Dealers wishing to conduct investment trading activities. The Authority will empanel a number of Broker/Dealer firms from whom it will then seek bids for the purpose of buying and selling securities. The procurement will adhere to the Best Practices adopted by the EO 10 Task Force thereby maximizing the opportunity for participation by qualified MWBE firms.

Construction

At the close of fiscal year 2010-11, DASNY had a total construction workload of 736 projects valued at over $6 billion. Expenditures on projects for which DASNY provided services during the fiscal year totaled $996.5 million.

Major DASNY-managed projects completed this year include:

Major ongoing DASNY-managed projects include:

New projects added to the Dormitory Authority pipeline during the past fiscal year include:

New projects in programs where DASNY provides various levels of oversight:

Construction Initiatives

·         Construction Division Reorganization

The Construction Division implemented a major resource and process reorganization throughout calendar year 2010 to increase value and efficiency as a result of feedback communicated from our customer base. The foundation for the reorganization was the Dormitory Authority Construction Services Organizational Improvement Plan dated January 22, 2008 authored by PB Consult. In summary, the Division now consists of a Downstate and Upstate component, with both design and construction services contained within each. Supporting Units include: Procurement, Project Controls and Code Compliance.

All new projects during the reporting period were processed through the fully implemented design-construction model whereby the design is led by an internal design professional (architect or engineer). The model has many benefits including a more efficient design review process, accommodation for our construction phase project managers to remain actively engaged on projects through the closeout of all construction contracts and, with the efficiency gains, anticipates a reduced cost to our customer agencies. As data becomes available, we will begin to measure the effectiveness of the model through metrics associated with design error and omission change orders, fee for services and customer satisfaction.

·         Consultant Site Safety Initiatives

Our two site safety consultants, Marsh and EG Bowman were deployed to our capital projects throughout fiscal year 2010-11, and during calendar 2010 completed 321 site safety surveys and issued 458 recommendations. We recently received a summary report for the calendar year 2010, and are sharing that report internally with our project delivery staff.

Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) Initiatives

·         New York State MWBE Team

Pursuant to Executive Order No. 8, Governor Cuomo formed a new MWBE task force  with the specific mission of identifying and eliminating any barriers to effective implementation of the 2010 Business Diversification Act, which established Statewide goals for MWBE utilization and called for more stringent compliance with Article 15-A. On April 14, 2011, the Task Force, which is chaired by Battery Park City Authority Chairman Bill Thompson had its second meeting. An action plan was presented, which contained six specific areas of focus, including Information Technology & Development. Since the DASNY model of compliance will be the starting point for the development of an enterprise-wide technology solution for contract compliance, DASNY President Paul T. Williams, Jr. was asked to chair the Information & Technology Development subcommittee.

·         MWBE Legislation

On July 15, 2010, Governor David A. Paterson signed into law Chapters 173, 174 and 175 (the 2010 Business Diversification Act) of the Laws of 2010. The 2010 Business Diversification Act sets goals for overall agency compliance, expands the definition of MWBE firms and creates a Chief Diversity Officer to assist the Governor on matters pertaining to workforce diversity and MWBE regulation compliance.

In September 2010, the Authority amended its Procurement Guidelines and Procurement Policy to comply with these new statutory requirements. Accordingly, the Authority’s Procurement Guidelines reflect the changes that were made to the Public Authorities Law and Article 15-A of the Executive Law, including a revised definition of MWBE and Small Businesses and authorization for the Authority to make discretionary purchases of up to $200,000 of commodities or services from MWBEs and Small Businesses without a formal competitive process.

·         MWBE 15-A Construction-Related Goal Results for Fiscal Year 2011-12

The Division of Minority and Women Business Development has extended the submittal of the Master Goal Plan for fiscal year 2011-12. Upon receipt of the Division’s Guidelines each agency will have 30 days to submit their plan. The Guidelines will provide helpful information in the completion of the Master Goal Plan and assist with MWBE goal setting and Best Practices.

The Dormitory Authority’s construction and commodity-related MWBE 15-A goals for fiscal year 2010-11 were 20 percent; 13 percent MBE and 7 percent WBE. We have reconciled our results through the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2010-11 with Empire State Development Corporation which indicate that we have achieved 21.83 percent; 10.65 percent MBE and 11.19 percent WBE. The total cumulative MWBE expenditures for the fiscal year are $202,444,401.

·         DASNY’s MWBE Surety Bond/Capital Assistance Program

The Dormitory Authority Board approved a Surety Bond/Capital Access Fund and Program for MWBE contractors in 2009. The lack of available surety bond capacity for MWBE firms is a major barrier for their development from subcontractors to prime contractors and limits the capacity of MWBE prime contractors to bid. The Board established the fund in an amount of $3 million. Two million dollars of these funds will be used by the Authority to assist in mitigating the risk of surety bonds authorized as a result of the DASNY bonding program, and $1 million will be used to facilitate bank loans, providing capital access to those firms.

Work has been underway in calendar years 2010 and 2011 to develop this program. DASNY and our consultant, the Cayemitte Group, selected 22 MWBE firms (16 downstate and six upstate) for the program in its entirety, and an additional five firms to participate in a partial program with an emphasis on strategic coaching. As a result of this program during 2011, five participating firms have secured a total of more than $3 million dollars in aggregate bond lines that can be used on non-DASNY projects. This outlined program goal was achieved as a direct result of the program curriculum and advisory services. In addition, several participating firms have the strong potential of securing their first-ever bond lines as they finalize the submission of their required bonding documents by the third quarter of this year.

·         MWBE Financial and Professional Services  

In fiscal year 2010-11 DASNY spent $3,358,562 with MWBE firms for non-construction related professional services. This accounts for 16 percent of DASNY’s total spend in this area.

·         2010 Business Diversification Act

OPG Financial and Professional Services Diversity Programs is a member of Empire State Development Corporation’s Division of Minority and Women Business Development’s Diversity Practices Working Group. Other members include the Chief Diversity Officer and staff from the Office of the State Comptroller, the Office of General Services and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). DASNY’s Diversity Questionnaire was used as a model and basis for the state-wide Diversity Practices Questionnaire and Scoring Matrix that are being developed by the working group.

·         Upcoming Procurements

OPG Financial and Professional Services Diversity Programs will serve on the evaluation committees of the following Requests for Proposals expected to be undertaken early in the next fiscal year: Broker Dealers and Blanket Crime Insurance. Each proposal will be developed in accordance with the E.O. 10 Task Force best practices to encourage the participation of qualified certified MWBE firms.

·         Outreach

The Emerging Firms panel was a new initiative undertaken by the Authority in an effort to promote the participation of Minority and Women-Owned law firms in the different areas that DASNY utilizes outside legal counsel.  As part of this initiative, OPG Financial and Professional Services Diversity Programs and Counsel’s Office will host a meet and greet in Albany for lawyers serving on DASNY’s Emerging Firms panel early in fiscal 2011-12.

·         The 2011 MWBE Conference 

The 26th annual Minority, Women Business Enterprises Conference is scheduled for Thursday, October 13 - Friday, October 14, 2011, at the Empire State Plaza. The conference goal is to enhance opportunities for MWBEs, provide access to opportunities and support the Governor’s 20 percent MWBE participation goal for all New York State agencies and authorities. The Conference will include workshops and networking opportunities focused on increasing business capabilities, developing new business relationships and fostering a commitment to diversity participation in New York State Government.

Sustainability Programs

·         DASNY Green Projects in Design and Construction

As of January 1, 2008, all DASNY construction projects are identified as sustainable opportunities, with the specific sustainable goals identified, or are registered with the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) with a goal of LEED Silver or higher. These numbers below represent all new buildings, additions, or significant renovation projects of any size that have entered our pipeline and have been registered or certified since the start of last year.

Projects registered with USGBC:

36

Projects certified by USGBC to date:

4

*LEED work is registered at the start of the project and certified after construction is completed.

·         Renewable Energy Credit Contract Signed

Early in January 2010, DASNY Procurement issued a Request for Proposal for Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) sufficient to cover two years of electric use in our 515 Broadway facility, as well as our Franklin Street building in Buffalo. A recent audit recommended we continue our excellent performance, and we are now requesting more aggressive renewable energy credit contracts with a mix that increases the percentage of NYS resources while holding the expenditure at current levels. This will additionally support NYS renewable energy growth without increasing DASNY’s contract cost per year. We have signed the contract for RECs with Community Energy, a company that invests directly in renewable energy development. This purchase has an estimated environmental benefit equivalent to removing 309 passenger vehicles from the road.

·         DASNY Involvement with Executive Orders and Laws Promoting NYS Sustainability

DASNY continues to work collaboratively with other state Agencies/Authorities on Executive Orders and laws in development, and to achieve the goals of Executive Orders No. 111 (energy efficiency and fleet management), No.18 (elimination of single use water bottles), No. 24 (greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions by 2050) and No. 4 (green procurement and waste reduction).

DASNY has consistently exceeded the requirements of E.O. No. 111, initially signed in 2001, by purchasing hybrid and flex-fuel vehicles for all of our passenger fleet vehicles, and by aggressively reducing our energy usage and increasing our purchase of RECs. In addition we aggressively work to reduce overall energy usage in our buildings. In the past year, improvements included changing our street lighting to LED lamps (with a 10 percent ROI not including labor savings). Energy use reductions tie into reporting on several of these Executive Orders, and each reduction allows us better control over our budget as we spend less on gas and electric which have fairly volatile pricing histories.

DASNY staff has taken on a leadership role in the work of EO #24 seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The policy designs are currently at the Governor’s office under consideration for development of a final plan and recommendations. 

DASNY involvement in EO #4 relates to our continuing reporting on the Authority’s waste, paper and sustainability planning. Reduction in waste generation in 2009 was in the range of a 30 percent reduction over 2008 levels in all of our operated facilities. The reporting form for year 2010 should be out soon. In the past year we have reduced our paper use through growth in e-document sharing rather than printed copies, purchase of air hand dryers, and completion of a contract to scan and e-file our paper archives. Over time, this last item will also save us the operations dollars that are currently spent on paying for off-site storage of archived papers.

·         Energy Star

DASNY has achieved an Energy Star rating of 92 for its headquarters at 515 Broadway in Albany. This indicates that our headquarters building is performing better than 92 percent of similar commercial office buildings in our area. This success is due to careful monitoring, frequent adjustments and a concerted effort by staff along with building management’s efforts to maximize energy conservation.

DASNY is the second NYS entity to have completed the verification process for GHG reporting to the Climate Registry, an international tracking system. We are uploading data into the tracking system for years 2009 and 2010, and expect to complete the verification process by the fall, completing three full years of tracking emissions from our buildings and fleet. This allows us to trend the data, and determine what strategies should be employed to further reduce our energy use and our vehicle miles travelled.

·         LEED APs at DASNY

DASNY has 33 LEED Accredited Professionals on staff along with one LEED Green Associate. These are staff that have learned about the LEED rating system and general aspects of sustainable design, and have passed a test to confirm their knowledge. The accreditation system has recently changed and tightened, with requirements for continuing education in order to ensure that knowledge of fast-moving technology, approaches and products remains current. To date, 13 of our LEED-APs have committed to maintaining their credentials. The knowledge our staff has gained benefits our clients on each and every project.

·         Staff Accomplishments

Jodi Smits Anderson, DASNY’s Director of Sustainability Programs, has been unanimously selected by the Upper Northeast Regional Committee of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to represent the region on the national board Chapter Steering Committee. This position involves linking the work of the Chapter and individual members to the mission and strategic goals of the USGBC, and aligns with and supports DASNY’s green building initiatives.

Customer Satisfaction Initiatives

Customer Feedback

The Dormitory Authority conducts a formal Customer Satisfaction Initiative program in which we interview all of our private financing and selected capital public construction customers. Personal interviews solicit the customers’ views on DASNY’s performance regarding; quality, customer support, communication, cost, process and timeliness. Private financing customers are interviewed at the conclusion of each financing, while our capital construction customers are interviewed at the completion of the design phase as well as completion of the project. This feedback is used by our senior managers to improve the operations of the Authority, add value to our services and strengthen our customer relations.

Grant Programs

The Dormitory Authority has been authorized to sell bonds to finance programs created by the Legislature to build, expand or renovate community facilities throughout New York. In fiscal year 2010-11, the Dormitory Authority sold more than $852 million in bonds to support community-based economic development, education, healthcare, high-technology, housing and public safety projects.

The Authority administers a number of different grant programs for the Governor and the Legislature and in some cases, in cooperation with other State agencies. Since inception of the grant programs, DASNY has received 5,981 grants totaling over $6.3 billion for processing. There are 3,988 active grants in process at this time.