The computer firm that billed taxpayers an average of $250,000 last year for each of 63 full-time consultants it gave the New York City Department of Education appears to have paid those consultants just a fraction of that amount, reports the New York Daily News. Future Technology Associates (FTA) has held a no-bid contract from the city DOE for the past four years to integrate the school system's financial management software with that of other city agencies. Under the contract, the company--which seems to have no other clients--received more than $15.7 million from the school system in fiscal year 2009. Since it began its work for the DOE, Future Technology Associates has filed 19 applications with the U.S. Department of Labor for permission to hire foreign workers under temporary H-1B visas. On those applications, it claimed to be paying those employees from $45,000 to $80,000, with the average at $65,000. Those salaries represent about one-fourth what FTA charged the city for those workers. As the Daily News reported last week, the company's only official addresses, on Schermerhorn St. in New York City and its "headquarters" in Jacksonville, Fla., are mail drops. DOE officials defend the quality of FTA's work. They say its rates are "better than competitive" when compared with the rest of corporate America...
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