Title
Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) recommending the Board:
1) Make findings that the provision of Organizational Consulting and Software as a Service (SaaS) services provided by Contractor are in the public's best interest and that there are specialty skills, qualifications, and equipment not expressly identified in County classifications involved in the performance of the work in accordance with El Dorado County Ordinance Code, Chapter 3.13.030(B), El Dorado County Charter, Section 210(b)(6), and/or Government Code Section 31000;
2) Approve and authorize the Purchasing Agent to electronically sign Purchase Contract 6707 with Carahsoft Technology Corporation, with a not to exceed amount of $165,040, and for a one (1) year term effective upon final execution; and
3) Authorize the HHSA Director, or Agency Chief Fiscal Officer, to execute further documents relating to Agreement 6707, contingent upon approval by County Counsel and Risk Management, including amendments which do not increase the maximum dollar amount or term of the Agreement.
FUNDING: 100% State Emergency Response Enhanced Funding.
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND:
Child Welfare Services (CWS) Emergency Response (ER) programs across the state currently experience a high workload volume that is often very complex. With the heightened stress and constraints families experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, the CWS workforce was faced with many new challenges. Schools were shut down and businesses were closed, leaving many families and children vulnerable as children were seen less often by mandated reporters. This led to county CWS hotlines seeing a decline in call volume. As schools and other services began reopening, it was expected that counties would experience a slight increase in the number of calls coming into their hotlines. The heightened stress and trauma experienced by some families is also expected to lead to more complex concerns, which, in turn may increase social worker workloads.
As a result, the California Budget Act of 2021 appropriated $50 million of state general funds to Emergency Response Enhanced Funding for the purpose of enhancing a county CWS agency’s existing ER services, resulting in a net increase of staff for hotline and investigation functions. These funds are available to counties for encumbrance or expenditure until June 30, 2025.
In the County of El Dorado (County), issues contained within referrals are often significant and require extensive coordination with others, including extended family members, other agency professionals and within HHSA's own staff. As additional support is warranted to address any issues that may have surfaced following the described impacts of the pandemic, the Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) has asked for State ER Enhancement Funds to improve efficiencies within how work flows in and through the CWS continuum of care. HHSA has identified the need for a Contractor to streamline its Child Welfare Services (CWS) Division to find efficiencies and maximize the use of its resources through a Baseline Process Evaluation, Rapid Process Improvement Workshop, and Change Management Planning.
Through the cooperative solution by National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO), Carahsoft Technology Corporation was awarded the categories of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) through the nationwide competitive bid solicitation for Cloud Solutions. Change and Innovation Agency (C!A), as an authorized reseller of the Carahsoft products and services in the State of California, was selected by CWS to provide the consulting and SaaS services under Purchase Contract 6707. The County has piggybacked on NASPO contracts over the years to leverage better terms and pricing for various services.
C!A has unique expertise working with a variety of child welfare agencies throughout the United States. C!A focuses exclusively on assisting child welfare teams to identify internal work processes that negatively impact staff workload. Rather than promote hiring more staff, the contractor brings standard data that applies to all child welfare agencies regardless of location and size (e.g. length of time to complete a child abuse investigation, length of time to secure placement and prepare court reports, to name a few) and performs internal reviews and audits in order to identify process inefficiencies and barriers to working smarter and more effectively. Working closely with CWS Management and Leadership Teams, C!A will provide a consultation to review current policies, guidelines, and practices to develop recommendations based on their review and assessment of current CWS practices. This expertise and service will allow HHSA CWS to provide higher quality, efficient and time sensitive services to our community’s most vulnerable children who are at risk for child abuse and neglect.
Following this consultation, C!A will provide a written summary of recommendations that will enable CWS to utilize existing resources in a more effective and efficient manner while also ensuring that all Federal, State, and County mandated laws and compliance mandates continue to be followed. Additionally, C!A will provide technical assistance and training to ensure a successful implementation of the recommendations.
ALTERNATIVES:
Should the Board decline to approve this recommendation, CWS will not have access to the expertise needed to analyze the flow of intricate CWS practices. This will impact the ability to receive technical assistance that would otherwise improve service efficiencies for some of the community’s most vulnerable children and families.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION:
N/A
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
Approved by County Counsel, Human Resources, Information Technologies, and Risk Management. Auditor-Controller was notified.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no Net County Cost associated with this Agenda item. This Agreement is 100% State funded by Emergency Response Enhanced Funding. Sufficient appropriations were included in the Fiscal Year 2022-23 Budget and will be included in future budgets for the term of the Agreement.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
N/A
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT:
Good Governance.
CONTACT
Evelyn Schaeffer, Director, Health and Human Services Agency