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Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) recommending the Board:
1) Make findings pursuant to Section 3.13.030 (C) of the El Dorado County Ordinance Chapter 13, Contracting Out, that due to the limited timeframes and temporary or occasional nature of the work involved in as-needed after-hours emergency telephone answering services provided by Inland Southern California 211+ (ISC211+), the ongoing aggregate of work to be performed is not sufficient to warrant the addition of permanent staff;
2) Make findings in accordance with Procurement Policy C-17 Section 3.4(2f) to exempt Agreement for Services 10028 and 10068 from the competitive bidding process, with Purchasing Agent concurrence, because “the procurement is for services where the continuity of providers will provide efficiency or critical knowledge, and other providers of the services cannot provide similar efficiencies or critical knowledge”;
3) Approve and authorize the Chair to sign Agreement for Services 10028 with ISC211+, in the amount of $80,858 and for the term of three years from April 10, 2026, through April 9, 2029, for the provision of Public Health after-hours telephone answering services;
4) Approve and authorize the Chair to sign Agreement for Services 10068 with ISC211+, with a maximum obligation of $80,858 and for the term of three years from April 10, 2026, through April 9, 2029, for the provision of Behavioral Health after-hours telephone answering services;
5) Authorize the Purchasing Agent to execute amendments relating to agreements 10028 and 10068, contingent upon approval by County Counsel and Risk Management, which do not increase the maximum dollar amount or term of the agreements; and
6) Authorize the HHSA Director, or the Chief Assistant Director, to execute programmatic, administrative, and fiscal documents relating to Agreements 10028 and 10068.
FUNDING: 32% Federal Funding, 4% State Funding, 56% County Realignment Funding, and 8% Net County Cost.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND:
HHSA Adult Protective Services (APS), Child Welfare Services (CWS), Public Guardian (PG), Public Health Division (PH), and Behavioral Health Division (BHD), including the BHD’s Substance Use Disorder (SUD) program, are mandated to provide 24-hour telephone answering and call transfer services under various Welfare and Institutions Codes. The intent of the legislation is to provide an avenue for the community to contact these County divisions and programs any time of day or night even when the County offices are closed.
ISC211+ is Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (AIRS) accredited, which is the only credential specifically geared to assess quality, compliance, and information exchange for information and referral service providers committed to improving access to human services. ISC211+ has operated its Contact Center since 2005 and has over 18 years of related experience in managing county/city government contracts for operating call lines for mandated and non-mandated Health and Human Services jurisdictions, serving both rural and urban populations. This includes operating telephone answering and call transfer services for mandated and non-mandated reports involving child and elder abuse/neglect and those that are aging and/or have disabilities.
These proposed Agreements 10028 for PH and 10068 for PG/BHD SUD with ISC 211+ are a renewal of Agreement 6705 approved by the Purchasing Agent on April 3, 2023, and its Amendment I approved by the Board on May 21, 2024 (Legistar file 24-0797), to provide the services described in this agenda item. The prior Agreement 6705 was a shared agency-wide contract, overseen by the HHSA Social Services (SS) division, which made it difficult to administer as multiple divisions and programs utilized the contract, resulting in billing issues as the contractor was not clearly identifying the divisions the services/calls were for. Consequently, it was determined that it was advantageous for the divisions to enter into separate contracts for their department’s specific service needs to ensure that the services could be billed to the right department, and invoices can be approved by the impacted department’s Contract Administrator.
HHSA recommends approval of this item as the proposed agreements will ensure continuation of after-hours emergency telephone answering services without any service interruption.
In accordance with Board Procurement Policy C-17, ISC211+ is exempt from competitive bidding due to this vendor’s specialized experience and accreditation, with Purchasing Agent concurrence, per Section 3.4,(2f) which states “--------the procurement is for services where the continuity of providers will provide efficiency or critical knowledge, and other providers of the services cannot provide similar efficiencies or critical knowledge”. Agreement 10066 with a maximum obligation of $200,000 for APS and CWS is scheduled to go to Board March 24, 2026, for these mandated 24-hour telephone answering services (Legistar file 26-0366). Agreements 10028 and 10068 have a combined total over $100,000 so they are being brought to Board together on this agenda item.
ALTERNATIVES:
Should the Board decline to approve the Inland Southern California 211+ agreements presented in this agenda item, HHSA PH, PG, and BHD SUD would have insufficient capacity to meet the mandated requirements for 24-hour telephone answering and call transfer services.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION:
05/21/24, 24-0797, HHSA C6705 A1
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
County Counsel, Human Resources, Information Technologies, and Risk Management have reviewed the agreements. The Auditor Controller was notified of Agreements 10028 and 10068 in accordance with Policy B-12.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Sufficient appropriations were included in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-26 Budget and will be included in future budgets for the terms of the Agreements.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS:
Clerk of the Board to obtain signature of Chair on one original Agreement for Services 10028 and 10068.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT:
N/A
CONTACT:
Olivia Byron-Cooper, MPH, Director, Health and Human Services Agency