DOI Policy and Procedure Recommendations Portal

Welcome to the New York City Department of Investigation’s Policy and Procedure Recommendations (PPR) Portal, which provides the public with a greater understanding of the recommendations DOI issues to City agencies and entities. PPRs are formal written recommendations to City agencies that correct policy, procedural and operational vulnerabilities identified through DOI investigations.  These PPRs are part of DOI’s distinct approach to attacking corruption: through prevention, education, arrests, public reports, and reforms that tighten internal controls and prevent fraud and corruption from re-occurring. PPRs help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of City government, defend the City from fraudulent activity, and protect City workers and the public from conditions that could affect health and safety. They are good government in action.

As a watchdog agency within City government, DOI has the dual role of investigating individual wrongdoing when we find evidence of corruption or fraud, but also addressing operational problems and corruption vulnerabilities that are exposed by our investigations. Our goal is to correct and prevent future cases of waste, corruption, or gross mismanagement. We work towards that goal by providing an agency with relevant PPRs that are targeted to the specific operational vulnerability exposed in our investigation, and which recommend necessary changes. If we determine an agency has not addressed an operational vulnerability, DOI will notify them regarding the need to do so and monitor accordingly. Many, but not all, of DOI investigations result in PPRs.

DOI’s effort to officially track its PPRs began in 2007 and evolved over the years to the portal that you can now access on this website, which allows you to view PPRs by individual agency. Because of the large number of PPRs that DOI has issued over the years, and in order to ensure accuracy and timeliness in establishing this portal, DOI included recommendations issued since 2014, which is now a total of more than 5,450 PPRs. Generally, DOI updates these PPRs on a quarterly basis, in March, June, September and December. DOI may make other updates as warranted outside of those times. Currently, recommendations regarding the New York City Police Department are updated as of DOI’s 2023 annual report.

The Special Commissioner of Investigation (SCI) for the New York City School District maintains its own policy and procedure recommendation data, which is posted on its website. To visit SCI’s website, click here.

The PPR portal includes DOI’s evaluation of the agencies’ status of the PPRs after they are issued to the agency, including acceptance and implementation. The Portal also includes a column for the agencies to select further comments from a list of options, in order to provide additional information that may help explain DOI’s evaluation of the PPR status.

The following terms and definitions will be helpful as you navigate through the portal:

PPR Status Definitions

• Acceptance Status – DOI's evaluation of whether the Agency has accepted the PPR. Status may be: Accepted, Rejected, Practice Already in Place; DOI Withdrawn/Suspended; N/A; and/or Pending. 

• Implementation Status – DOI's evaluation of whether the Agency has implemented an accepted PPR. Status may be: Yes, No, Practice Already in Place; DOI Withdrawn/Suspended; N/A; and/or Pending.

• Additional Agency Comment – Agencies are able to provide additional clarification to explain DOI’s evaluation of the PPR status, such as whether the PPR is partially implemented or is pending additional resources in order to fully implement, etc.

• Citywide PPR – Following an investigation for a specific issue at one or more City agencies, in order to prevent fraud at any City agency that may have a similar risk, DOI issued the same PPRs to numerous City agencies.

• Not Applicable – Typically used for PPRs that have been issued Citywide but which are not applicable to a particular agency.

• Practice Already in Place – Typically used for PPRs that have been issued Citywide but where the agency was already in compliance with the recommendation.

• DOI Withdrawn/Suspended – DOI is working with several City agencies to provide additional guidance on some Citywide PPRs. No response is required from agencies on these PPRs until such guidance has been provided.

Please go to DOI reports and DOI News Releases for additional information on the investigations associated with some of the recommendations.