REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
March 25, 2025
FROM
GEORGINA YOSHIOKA, Director, Department of Behavioral Health
SUBJECT
Title
Contracts for Comprehensive Treatment Services Student Assistance Program and School-Aged Treatment Services
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve contracts with the following agencies, for the provision of the Comprehensive Treatment Services Student Assistance Program, and School-Aged Treatment Services, in a total amount not to exceed $50,200,775, for the contract period of April 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026:
1. Desert/Mountain Children’s Center, in the amount of $18,124,095
2. Lutheran Social Services of Southern California, in the amount of $449,545
3. Mountain Counseling & Training, Inc., in the amount of $1,389,585
4. South Coast Children's Society, Inc., dba South Coast Community Services, in the amount of $15,751,925
5. Victor Community Support Services, Inc., in the amount of $10,180,605
6. West End Family Counseling Services, in the amount of $4,305,020
(Presenter: Georgina Yoshioka, Director, 252-5142)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Promote the Countywide Vision.
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
Pursue County Goals and Objectives by Working with Other Agencies.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
This item does not impact Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The recommended contracts, totaling $50,200,775, for Comprehensive Treatment Services (CTS), Student Assistance Program (SAP), and School-Aged Treatment Services (SATS) will be funded by Mental Health Services Act, Federal Financial Participation Medi-Cal, 2011 Realignment and matching funds provided by Desert Mountain Special Education Local Planning Area (DMSELPA).These matching funds of $1,399,465 support $10,017,644 of Specialty Mental Health Services (SMHS) of the total contract amount of $18,124,095 with DMCC. Adequate appropriation and revenue have been included in the Department of Behavioral Health’s (DBH) 2024-25 budget and will be included in 2025-26 recommended budget.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
DBH is responsible for providing mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) services to county residents experiencing severe mental illness and/or SUD. An integral part of the service delivery system consists of County-operated and contracted service providers delivering a variety of mental health treatment services. (CTS) provides quality, prevention, and strength-based mental health services to families and students allowing success at school and in the community through empowerment and building strong family relationships. CTS is comprised of the Student Assistance Program (SAP) and School-Aged Treatment Services (SATS) programs. SAP and SATS are two distinctive programs, that collectively represent a large portion of the children’s continuum of care for mental health services and each program is expected to collaborate cohesively with the other. DBH provides services in the West Valley, East Valley, Desert/Mountain and Eastern Desert regions of the County. SAP is a school-based approach to providing focused services to students in need of interventions for SUD, mental health, academic, emotional, and/or social issues. The program serves children/youth (grades K-12) and their families who have been exposed to trauma, experiencing the first onset of serious psychiatric illness, in stressed families, at-risk for school failure, and/or at-risk of or are experiencing juvenile justice involvement (JJI). SATS provides services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries who are at-risk of school failure due to SUD, JJI, mental health, emotional, and/or social issues. The program serves school-age Medi-Cal eligible children/youth (up to age 21) who experience significant distress and dysfunction due to a mental health condition and thus meet Medi-Cal medical necessity criteria.
DMSELPA is a Local Education Agency (LEA) support service office that serves as a liaison to desert and mountain local school districts. DMSELPA provides a local match for expanded services and collaborates with Desert/Mountain Children’s Center (DMCC) to fulfill contract obligations. DMSELPA will provide a non-federal match for a portion of the costs for EPSDT Medi-Cal SMHS to eligible children/youth through DBH contracts with DMCC, up to $10,017,644, which will allow for additionally funded services to children and youth served by DMCC through the SATS program. This additional funding is included in the recommended contract award of $18,124,095 to DMCC.
Approval of the contracts listed in the Recommendation will allow CTS services to be provided for the SAP and SATS programs. DBH anticipates an estimated 5,000 clients for SATS to be served at an estimated cost of $6,673 per client, and 9,798 clients for SAP at an estimated cost of $694 annually.
DBH will also implement mechanisms to regularly review 1) client service data and progress, conduct site visits and annual monitoring to ensure performance and compliance standards of the contract(s) are met; 2) applicable claims data and claims for reimbursement to ensure fidelity and accuracy of service billing and optimization of Medi-Cal reimbursement in alignment with contract terms and Department of Health Care Services billing requirements; and 3) provider invoices administratively and programmatically to ensure client and/or bed counts are accurate prior to payment processing.
PROCUREMENT
On October 3, 2024, the County Administrative Office approved and authorized the release of Request for Proposals (RFP) No. DBHE24-ADMN-5313 through the County’s Electronic Procurement Network (ePro), to solicit interested and qualified organizations and agencies to provide CTS services. The RFP was publicly advertised in local newspapers and sent through direct mailings to more than 600 community-based organizations, service providers, and other interested parties.
A bidder’s conference was held on October 17, 2024. A total of 17 proposals were received in response to the RFP by the established deadline. The following proposals met the minimum requirements and continued in the evaluation process:
|
Agency |
SAP Proposed Regions |
SATS Proposed Regions |
Proposed Amount |
|
Desert/Mountain Children’s Center (DMCC) |
High Desert Eastern Desert |
High Desert Eastern Desert |
$25,500,543 |
|
Mountain Counseling & Training, Inc. (MCT) |
East Valley High Desert/Mountain |
East Valley High Desert/ Mountain |
$1,650,836 |
|
South Coast Children's Society, Inc., dba South Coast Community Services (SCCS) |
East Valley West Valley High Desert/Mountain |
East Valley West Valley High Desert/Mountain |
$22,872,679 |
|
Victor Community Support Services, Inc., (VCCS) |
East Valley |
East Valley |
$12,820,437 |
|
West End Family Counseling Services (WEFCS) |
West Valley |
West Valley |
$4,305,002 |
|
Lutheran Social Services of Southern California (LSSSC) |
East Valley High Desert/Mountain |
East Valley High Desert/Mountain |
$491,242 |
|
A Coming of Age to Adulthood Inc. |
Not Applicable |
West Valley East Valley |
$4,306,853 |
|
Athletic Mentorship Partners |
West Valley East Valley High Desert /Mountain |
West Valley East Valley High Desert /Mountain |
$245,000 |
|
Ark Homes Foster Family Agency |
Not Applicable |
West Valley |
$761,874 |
|
Building Bridges Foster Family Agency |
Not Applicable |
West Valley |
$753,218 |
|
Center for Effective Life Transitions |
Not Applicable |
East Valley |
$1,967,434 |
|
ChildNet Youth and Family Services, Inc. |
East Valley |
East Valley |
$11,287,784 |
|
iCare Practitioners and Nursing Concierge, Inc. |
West Valley East Valley High Desert/Mountain Eastern Desert |
West Valley East Valley High Desert/Mountain Eastern Desert |
$27,713,325 |
|
JFHS LLC DBA 360 Human services |
East Valley High Desert/Mountain Eastern Desert |
East Valley High Desert/Mountain Eastern Desert |
$3,000,000 |
|
Pacific Services |
Not Applicable |
East Valley High Desert/Mountain Eastern Desert |
$5,750,274 |
|
True Escape Marriage and Family Therapy |
High Desert/Mountain |
Not Applicable |
$353,804 |
|
Wayfinder Family Services |
Not Applicable |
West Valley |
$2,043,528 |
The evaluation committee, comprised of four individuals with representation from the Children’s Fund and DBH, evaluated the proposals based on the criteria referenced in the RFP. The evaluation criteria included but were not limited to: the ability to serve the target population, proposed program services, ability to service the necessary number of unduplicated clients, readiness to provide services, experience, staffing levels and qualifications, appropriateness of facility, proximity to mass transit, facility layout, ability to serve proposed geographic area, and the ability to measure outcomes.
Based on the program and fiscal evaluation and resulting contract negotiations, the following six agencies are recommended for contract award.
|
Agency |
SAP Region(s) |
SATS Region(s) |
Awarded Amount |
|
Desert/Mountain Children’s Center (DMCC) |
High Desert Eastern Desert |
High Desert Mountain Area East/Big Bear Eastern Desert |
$18,124,095 |
|
Mountain Counseling & Training, Inc. (MCT) |
Mountain Area- Rim of The World |
Mountain Area West |
$1,389,585 |
|
South Coast Children's Society, Inc., dba South Coast Community Services (SCCS) |
East Valley West Valley |
Central Valley East Valley West Valley |
$15,751,925 |
|
Victor Community Support Services, Inc., (VCCS) |
East Valley |
East Valley |
$10,180,605 |
|
West End Family Counseling Services (WEFCS) |
West Valley |
West Valley |
$4,305,020 |
|
Lutheran Social Services of Southern California (LSSSC) |
Mountain Area- Big Bear |
Not Applicable |
$449,545 |
Agencies not recommended for contract award were notified via electronic mail and regular mail of the denial and the ability to submit a formal written protest to the Director of the Purchasing Department based on the criteria in the RFP. No written protests were received.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by Behavioral Health (Lisa Rivas-Ordaz, Contracts Supervisor,383-3940) on February 14, 2025; County Counsel (Dawn Martin, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on March 12, 2025; Purchasing (Jessica Barajas, Supervising Buyer, 387-2065) on March 13, 2025; Finance (Paul Garcia, Administrative Analyst, 386-8392) on March 14, 2025; and County Finance and Administration (Cheryl Adams, Deputy Executive Officer, 388-0238) on March 14, 2025.