Title
a. Approve and authorize the Director of the Department of Social Services (DSS), or his designee, to sign Amendment No. 2 to the Agreement No. A-12656 with Solutions West, Inc., for the provision of eligibility case processing extending the Agreement to June 30, 2015, and adding $196,120 for a revised total Agreement amount of $665,320; and
b. Authorize the Director of DSS, or his designee, to sign up to three (3) amendments to the Agreement where the total amendments do not exceed 10% of the total Agreement amount as set forth in Amendment No. 2, and does not significantly change the scope of work.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Approve and authorize the Director of the Department of Social Services (DSS), or his designee, to sign Amendment No. 2 to the Agreement No. A-12656 with Solutions West, Inc., for the provision of eligibility case processing extending the Agreement to June 30, 2015, and adding $196,120 for a revised total Agreement amount of $665,320; and
b. Authorize the Director of DSS, or his designee, to sign up to three (3) amendments to the Agreement where the total amendments do not exceed 10% of the total Agreement amount as set forth in Amendment No. 2, and does not significantly change the scope of work.
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
Solutions West, Inc., provides temporary specialized staff to the Monterey County Department of Social Services (DSS) for the provision of eligibility case processing pursuant to Agreement No. A-12656. Due to a continuing need for temporary qualified specialized staff, in May 2014, the original Agreement was subject to an extension through December 2014; at that time it was not anticipated that the contract amount would need to be increased. Due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the technology challenges related to the interface between the Covered California eligibility system and the county consortia system, DSS is still facing a backlog of Medi-cal applications. Currently, over 5,900 Medi-Cal cases are pending action with current permanent staffing unable to meet the workload demand.
While DSS is continuing to hire and train eligibility workers to manage the workload, the process to recruit and train staff cannot keep pace with the rapid growth in the number of residents requiring assistance. Solutions West has demonstrated the necessary experience and possesses the trained staff to be able to provide temporary local eligibility case processing services. Solutions West also has staff who understand eligibility rules for the ACA and have developed and provided training on the functionality of the CalHEERS automated system. At this time, DSS is recommending that the Solutions West relationship and Agreement be further extended through June 30, 2015, to provide the continuation of these specialized staff services to assist in eligibility case processing for Social Services through the end of the fiscal year.
The original Agreement was entered into in response to the rapid influx of Medi-Cal applications with Health Reform and problems with the Medi-Cal functionality of the California Health Eligibility, Enrollment and Retention System (CalHEERS). Fixes to the CalHEERS system were originally supposed to be in place by the Spring of 2014, but many key areas of functionality are still not available and many cumbersome and time consuming manual work-arounds are still required. The May 2014 Amendment #1 was requested to extend that initial timeframe within the financial limits of the original Agreement to facilitate DSS's ongoing efforts to serve the community and promote access to health insurance. Based upon the current workload being performed and staffing being provided by Solutions West, the current Agreement funds will be depleted in the month of October 2014. At the current time, it is clear that the services being performed by the temporary staffing will continue to provide valuable support in promoting access, and in meeting operational timelines beyond the current Agreement termination date of October 2014. As a temporary bridge action, Amendment #1 met that need, but further extension of and funding for the Agreement is indicated. Therefore, as a continuing temporary measure to address the workload pressures, facilitate timely quality customer services, and to continue to provide for the development of staffing procedures and training, DSS is requesting approval of Amendment No. 2 to Agreement No. A-12656 to extend the funding and term of the Agreement through June 30, 2015.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The Department has discussed this agreement with its Labor Management Committee and there is consensus that the additional short-term support it offers will be beneficial to the workforce and the community. The Auditor-Controller and Contract/Purchasing have reviewed and approved this agreement. County Counsel has approved the agreement as to form.
FINANCING:
This agreement is funded by the Medi-Cal and CalFresh allocation. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues in SOC005 are included in the FY 2014-15 Adopted Budget. Approval of this action has no impact on the County General Fund.
Prepared by: Becky Cromer, Finance Manager II, x4404
Approved by: Elliott Robinson, Director of Social Services, x4434
Attachments: Solutions West Amend #2, Solutions West Amend #1, and Solutions West Original Agreement.
Proposed Agreement is filed with the Clerk of the Board as an attachment to this Board Report.