REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
August 9, 2022
FROM
JACQUELYN GREENE, Director, Preschool Services Department
SUBJECT
Title
Amendment to Contract with Dr. Bergin Psychotherapy Family Services, PC dba Dr. Bergin Family Counseling Services for Mental Health Screenings and Trauma Treatment Services
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve Amendment No. 5 to Contract No. 16-199 with Dr. Bergin Psychotherapy Family Services, PC dba Dr. Bergin Family Counseling Services to provide mental health screenings and trauma treatment services countywide for Early Head Start, Early Head Start - Child Care Partnership, Head Start and State Preschool children ages 0 to 5 and their parents, updating contractor responsibility and revising the fee schedule to reflect the updated responsibilities, with no change to the contract amount of $695,000 or contract period of July 1, 2016 through September 30, 2022.
(Presenter: Jacquelyn Greene, Director, 383-2005)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
This item has no impact on Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The contract amount of $695,000 for mental health screening and trauma treatment services is funded by the Mental Health Services Act through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Behavioral Health. Adequate appropriation and revenue have been included in the Preschool Services Department’s (PSD) 2022-23 budget.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Dr. Bergin Psychotherapy Family Services, PC dba Dr. Bergin Family Counseling Services (Dr. Bergin) provides individualized mental health screenings and evaluations, utilizing recommended assessments for children enrolled in PSD’s Early Head Start, Early Head Start - Child Care Partnership, Head Start and State Preschool programs and their parents. The mental health screenings and evaluations are completed to support the referral process when referring PSD enrolled children to other agencies. In addition, Dr. Bergin provides trauma treatment services and analysis of outcomes for supervised group psychology services for children with grief due to a traumatic loss.
PSD and Dr. Bergin reviewed the delivery and program requirements for trauma treatment services and mental health screenings and agreed to update the contractor responsibilities to adequately meet the programs’ funding requirements and offer optimal services to recipients. The recommended amendment will allow Dr. Bergin to satisfactorily manage the trauma treatment services and mental health screening programs; bill the two services separately; provide separate reports for each service; manage and allow the PSD interns to lead the therapeutic intervention groups supporting teachers and group sessions for children that have experienced trauma; and cover the cost of the added responsibilities of managing the interns, and separating the reporting and administration of trauma treatment and mental health services. The revised fee schedule increases the hourly fee rate for Report writing, Case File Maintenance, Federal Review Preparation and Participation, Social-Emotional Interventions, Screening/ Evaluation, attending PSD meetings, group sessions preparations, and PSD meetings administration for interns.
Dr. Bergin’s performance will be monitored by the review of monthly reports and an annual site visit to ensure compliance with the administrative, program, and fiscal terms and conditions of the contract. Dr. Bergin will cooperate with the County in the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of this contract and comply with any and all reporting requirements established by this contract. Dr. Bergin’s charges must be for services provided to eligible beneficiaries. The County reserves the right to request additional program and/or fiscal reports to facilitate this monthly review. The contract may be terminated without cause by the County with 30 days written notice.
PROCUREMENT
On May 3, 2016 (Item No. 34), as the result of a formal procurement, the Board of Supervisors (Board) approved Contract No. 16-199 with Dr. Bergin to provide individualized mental health screenings for Head Start, Early Head Start, and State Preschool children ages 0 to 5 and their parents countywide, in the amount of $300,000, for the period of July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2019.
On April 30, 2019 (Item No. 42), the Board approved Amendment No. 1 to Contract No. 16-199 with Dr. Bergin, increasing the contract amount by $125,000, from $300,000 to a total contract amount of $425,000, and extending the contract period for one year, for a total contract period of July 1, 2016 through September 30, 2020. This amendment also included the option to extend the contract for an additional one-year period upon agreement by both parties.
On September 15, 2020 (Item No. 43), the Board approved Amendment No. 2 to Contract No. 16-199 with Dr. Bergin, increasing the contract amount by $100,000, from $425,000 for a total contract amount of $525,000, and exercising the final one-year option to extend the contract, for a total contract period of July 1, 2016 through September 30, 2021.
On September 21, 2021 (Item No. 26), the Board approved Amendment No. 3 to Contract No. 16-199 with Dr. Bergin, increasing the contract amount by $50,000, from $525,000 to $575,000, and extending the contract term by six months, for a total contract period of July 1, 2016 through March 31, 2022.
On November 07, 2021, PSD released a Request for Proposals (RFP) No. HS 21-04/County Electronic Procurement Network (ePro) Bid No. PSSD22-ADMIN-4321 for trauma treatment services for Head Start, Early Head Start, and State Preschool Programs. PSD received only one proposal and it did not meet all the RFP criteria.
On March 29, 2022 (Item No. 32), the Board approved Amendment No. 4 to Contact No. 16-199 with Dr. Bergin, increasing the contract amount by $120,000, from $575,000 to $695,000, and extending the contract term by six months, for a total contract period of July 1, 2016 through September 30, 2022, to go through a new procurement for mental health screenings services.
To allow PSD to reach out to more mental health and trauma treatment service providers who would be willing and capable of providing the services countywide, PSD revised the scope of work for the procurement of mental health screenings to add trauma treatment services, and changed the procurement tool from RFP to a Request for Application (RFA).
On March 8, 2022, PSD released RFA No. HS 21-22/ePro Bid No. PSSD22-ADMIN-4497 for mental health and trauma treatment services for Head Start, Early Head Start, and State Preschool Programs. One proposal was received that met all the RFA requirements. A new contract will be presented to the Board for approval for mental health screenings and trauma treatment services to begin October 1, 2022.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by Human Services Contracts (Patty Steven, Contracts Manager, 388-0241) on July 13, 2022; County Counsel (Adam Ebright, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on July 18, 2022; Finance (Paul Garcia, Administrative Analyst, 386-8392) on July 25, 2022; and County Finance and Administration (Cheryl Adams, Deputy Executive Officer, 388-0238) on July 26, 2022.