REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
March 28, 2023
FROM
JEANY ZEPEDA, Director, Children and Family Services
SUBJECT
Title
Amendment to Contract with Binti, Inc. for the Binti Placements/Matching Module
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve Amendment No. 1 to Contract No. 21-208, adding the Binti Placements/Matching Module to the Master Subscription and Services Agreement with Binti, Inc., at a cost of $235,000, for a total not to exceed contract amount of $871,000, with no change to the contract period of April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2024.
(Presenter: Jeany Zepeda, Director, 387-2792)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Provide for the Safety, Health, and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
Pursue County Goals and Objectives by Working with Other Agencies and Stakeholders.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not impact Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The Binti, Inc. (Binti) Placements/Matching Module (Placements Module) amount will be $235,000 will be purchased with Wraparound Reinvestment funding. Adequate appropriation and revenue have been included in the 2022-23 Human Services Administrative Claim budget and will be included in the 2023-24 recommended budget.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The recommended amendment to the Binti Master Subscription and Services Agreement (Master Agreement) will allow the purchase of an advanced Placement Module to supplement the current Binti software. The current Binti software is used to facilitate approval of resource families. Children and Family Services (CFS) manages the approval workflow by tracking the status of each applicant’s background check, application follow-up, and training completion. The proposed Placements Module will facilitate the child placement process. It will centralize and integrate child and family data in a web-based platform that maintains trackable and viewable data by searching family placement and/or child information.
Current law requires the County to provide services to the family and child, so the child can return safely to the parents. The preferred route to permanency is through safe reunification, but when that is not possible, services must be provided for the child or youth to achieve an alternative permanent and stable family, which is referred to as permanency. Reunification, guardianship, relative placement, and adoptions are all forms of permanency.
The new Placements Module will improve initial placement outcomes by recording characteristics and preferences of each family placement (both relative and non-relative), which can be viewed, filtered, and searched to find potential placements among matching families available for a specific child or sibling group. The Placements Module also provides complete centralized records, including needs and behaviors, placement history, and family information unique to each child. The child’s record is created with the initial placement request, updated at each subsequent placement request, and remains in the system until removed when no longer applicable.
The upgrade adding the Placements Module facilitates the dissemination of information by sending and tracking mass communication to any Resource Family Approved (RFA) home, Foster Family Agency, and/or Short-Term Residential Therapeutic Program regarding possible placement. It provides for general data aggregation and reporting, such as placement workers’ caseloads, including current and past assignments. This information can be used to track and report timelines, events, and outcomes on each case from inception to resolution for each worker and the County as a whole.
Services provided under the Binti Master Agreement, and the recommended Amendment, may be terminated by the County or Binti without cause upon 30 days’ written notice to the other party. Contractor performance will be monitored annually for compliance with the administrative, fiscal, and program terms and conditions of the recommended Master Agreement.
PROCUREMENT
On March 24, 2021 (Item No. 27), the Board of Supervisors approved non-competitive Contract No. 21-208 with Binti for a license and support of the Binti Platform to provide an online application process, tracking system, and training component for CFS’ RFA process, in an amount not to exceed $636,000 for the period of April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2024.
The California Department of Social Services advised California child welfare service agencies to prepare data system strategies to address the implementation of the RFA process. The Binti software is specifically designed and customized to work collaboratively with the existing State Child Welfare Services Case Management System and is the only fully developed application available to meet this requirement. The Binti Platform is proprietary and Binti is a sole source provider. The Purchasing Department approved the non-competitive purchase of the software, which has been in use since 2018, and the non-competitive justifications of this additional purchase.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by Human Services Contracts (Patty Steven, Manager, 388-0241) on February 16, 2023; County Counsel (Kaleigh Ragon, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on February 23, 2023; Finance (John Hallen, Administrative Analyst, 388-0208) on March 13, 2023; and County Finance and Administration (Cheryl Adams, Deputy Executive Officer, 388-0238) on March 13, 2023.