Brief: Recommendations for NYC Public Schools Multi-Task Award Contract Process to Support Partnership with NYC Arts Vendors

In December 2024, the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable surveyed arts organizations regarding their experiences with the NYC Public School’s Multiple Task Award Contract (MTAC) process. Prompted by continued feedback from cultural organizations experiencing difficulty obtaining, renewing, and obtaining extensions for contracts with NYC Public Schools, we administered a survey to streamline community feedback so that we can better understand trends in the field related to how the MTAC process is impacting arts organizations and their ability to provide educational opportunities to students.

As of January 2025, NYC Public Schools lists at least 82 organizations with arts-related MTAC contracts for R1129 (Arts Education Services) and R1180 (Professional Development Services for Arts Education). The attached survey was shared with the Roundtable’s mailing list (6,850-strong) and shared with additional organizations via the weekly Culture @ 3 calls, a weekly call with NYC cultural organizations that grew in response to the city’s shutdown due to the pandemic. We received 23 formal responses to our survey, with an additional 15-20 organizations reaching out to share information via email or Zoom.

This report summarizes our findings and offers recommendations on how to improve the MTAC process. The survey results reveal significant challenges for arts organizations in securing and maintaining MTAC contracts, which are essential for providing arts education programs in NYC public schools. Overall, delays in the MTAC process result in lost revenue and disruption to arts programming for students. For organizations with decades-long experience providing arts education services in NYC Public Schools, lengthy contract renewals and extensions processes are causing undue administrative burden to schools and fracturing existing relationships. The Roundtable hopes that we can continue to work with our partners in NYC Public Schools to reform in line with the broader contracting reform happening across the city, eliminating months (if not years) of lapsed service and red tape.

“After engaging in an MTAC process for about 9 months, we were asked to cut our budget so we’d be paying our teaching artists just above minimum wage… We love providing high caliber teaching artists to our schools and ensuring a high level of service, and the pricing change in particular didn’t seem sustainable to us.” – Organization Representative

“We are asking the DOE for what the overall process looks like because, 18 months in, it’s still unclear.” – Organization Representative

What is an MTAC?

An MTAC is a specialized type of contract mechanism used by NYCPS to identify vendors qualified to work in schools and to set contract terms for professional arts (and other) services. Schools can buy services from vendors with an MTAC without launching a competitive procurement process, which would be required for all contracts above the $25,000 small purchase limit.

MTAC contracts enable arts and cultural vendors to partner with a school on contracts over $25,000. Non-contracted arts vendors have an overall cap of $25,000 they can do with a given school per year. The arts vendor can have individual projects within the school but the projects total cannot exceed $25,000 (for non-contracted vendors). After $25,000, vendors will need an MTAC (Multiple Task Award Contract) contract to partner with schools.

Common Challenges

Unresponsive NYCPS Personnel: Many organizations cited difficulty in obtaining timely responses from DOE procurement analysts and other relevant staff. Emails and phone calls frequently go unanswered, leading to significant delays. This lack of communication makes it difficult for organizations to track the progress of their applications or address any issues that may arise.
Lengthy and Opaque Process: The MTAC process is perceived as overly complex and time-consuming, with unclear timelines and expectations. Organizations report significant frustration with the lack of transparency and communication throughout the application and negotiation stages.
Financial Negotiation Hurdles: Organizations encounter difficulties with the financial negotiation stage, including pressure to lower pricing structures, a lack of initial transparency regarding acceptable price ranges, and protracted rounds of revisions and resubmissions.

Delays in Contract Renewals, Extensions, and New Contracts

Renewals: Organizations seeking contract renewals report significant delays, with some experiencing wait times of up to 28 months. Even when organizations proactively engage with NYCPS well in advance of their contract expiration dates, they often encounter unexpected delays.
Extensions: Similar delays are reported for contract extensions, with wait times of up to two years. This timeframe often exceeds the one-year advance notice period that organizations are supposed to receive for contract extensions.
New Contracts: Organizations applying for MTAC contracts for the first time also experience lengthy processing times, ranging from 15-18 months or longer.

Other Notable Issues

Impact on Underserved Schools: Delays in the MTAC process disproportionately affect schools with little to no arts instruction that rely on these organizations to provide essential arts education programs in line with state learning requirements.
Administrative Burden: The extensive documentation and information required for MTAC applications create a significant administrative burden for cultural organizations, diverting resources from their core mission of providing arts education.
Limited Guidance and Support: Organizations expressed a need for clearer guidance and support throughout the MTAC process, including more transparent communication, streamlined application procedures, and readily accessible resources.

Recommendations

Improve communication and responsiveness within the NYCPS’ Office of Procurement: Implement measures to ensure timely responses to inquiries from arts organizations and provide regular updates on the status of their applications.
Simplify and streamline the MTAC process: Review and revise the application and negotiation procedures to reduce complexity and redundancy, especially for organizations seeking extension or renewal with long-standing history of partnership.
Establish clear timelines and expectations: Provide organizations with specific timelines for each stage of the process and ensure that these timelines are adhered to as closely as possible.
Increase transparency in financial negotiations: Provide organizations with clearer guidance on pricing expectations and ensure a fair and efficient negotiation process.
Develop a dedicated support system for arts organizations: Create a centralized resource center or help desk that can provide guidance and assistance throughout the MTAC process.
Prioritize timely processing of contract renewals and extensions: Dedicate resources to ensure that renewals and extensions are processed efficiently and well in advance of contract expiration dates. NYCPS should establish accountability mechanisms to ensure that staff process MTAC awards, extensions and renewals so that service gaps are avoided.

Conclusion

The MTAC process presents significant challenges for NYC arts organizations, hindering their ability to provide quality arts education programs to students. By addressing the issues identified in this report, NYC Public Schools can create a more efficient and supportive system that empowers arts organizations to fulfill their mission and enrich the lives of NYC students.

Contact:
Kimberly Olsen, Executive Director
NYC Arts in Education Roundtable
Email: kolsen@nycaieroundtable.org
Phone: 516-205-7639