REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
August 20, 2024
FROM
PETE MENDOZA, Director, Purchasing Department
SUBJECT
Title
Agreements for Drug and Alcohol Testing Services
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
1. Approve agreements with the following agencies to provide drug and alcohol testing services for the period of October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2029:
a. Phamatech, Inc.
b. SCRAM of California, Inc.
2. Authorize the Purchasing Agent to execute any non-substantive amendments to the agreements with Phamatech, Inc. and SCRAM of California, Inc. including updates to add or remove drug and alcohol testing services, the drug and alcohol testing item pricing as listed on Attachment A, and the contracted collection site locations as listed on Attachment D, when found to be in the best interest of the County, subject to County Counsel review.
3. Direct the Purchasing Agent to transmit all amendments to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors within 30 days of execution.
(Presenter: Pete Mendoza, Director, 387-2073)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Improve County Government Operations.
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not result in the use of additional Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). Departments that require drug and alcohol testing services are responsible for ensuring there is adequate funding in their current and future recommended budgets. The proposed rates are included in the contracted Fee Schedule (Attachment A). The County's annual average expense, over the past three years, for these services is approximately $855,000.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Drug and alcohol services are essential for patient care, substance use disorder services, and clinical support across the county. Services are needed to care for clinic patients, comply with court orders, and provide random testing for offenders and clients.
Children and Family Services’ (CFS) mission is to protect endangered children, preserve and strengthen their families, and develop alternative family settings. Services as mandated by law and regulation, will be provided in the least intrusive manner with a family centered focus. This mission is accomplished in collaboration with the family, a wide variety of public and private agencies and members of the community. As such, CFS administers programs designed to address child abuse and neglect within the county, which includes assisting families in managing and overcoming substance abuse issues, supporting the health and social services needs of county residents.
The Probation Department (Probation) requires that probationers randomly submit drug and alcohol testing specimens as part of their case management and supervision responsibilities for adult and juvenile offenders.
The Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) provides mental health and/or substance use disorder services to residents through a continuum of care by both County-operated clinics and contracted service providers. An integral part of service delivery is the provision of drug and alcohol testing services to clients located throughout the county.
The Department of Human Resources (HR) provides services to all the County departments for managing the employee life cycle, including but not limited to, recruiting, hiring, pre-placement physical examinations, onboarding, training employees and administering employee benefits. County policy requires pre-placement drug testing as part of the physical examination process for all new employees prior to beginning work in the County. HR’s Center for Employee Health and Wellness is responsible for conducting all pre-placement examinations, which includes drug testing through a contracted service provider. HR also helps administer the County’s reasonable suspicion policy requiring employees to submit to an alcohol and/or drug test for reasonable suspicion of substance abuse. Finally, departments utilize these same drug and alcohol testing services for testing as required by the California Department of Transportation.
Approval of the recommended actions will allow departments to provide public safety and meet the health and social service needs of county residents. In addition, the procurement approach pursued in this item aligns with the Purchasing Department's (Purchasing) strategy to aggregate volume to create operational efficiencies and cost savings.
PROCUREMENT
On January 11, 2024, Request for Proposals (RFP) No. AGENCY24-PURC-5245 was approved and released through the County Electronic Procurement Network (ePRO) for the provision of Drug and Alcohol Testing Services. The RFP covered required services for CFS, DBH, HR and Probation. Five proposals were received by the March 4, 2024, RFP deadline. Proposals from the five vendors listed below met the minimum requirements and continued through the evaluation process.
|
Proposer Name |
Location |
|
Equaltox Laboratory, LLC. |
Santa Ana, CA |
|
National Labs, Inc. |
Hayward, CA |
|
Phamatech, Inc. |
San Diego, CA |
|
Redwood Toxicology Laboratory, Inc. |
Santa Rosa, CA |
|
SCRAM of California, Inc. |
San Diego, CA |
The evaluation panel, with representation from CFS, DBH, HR and Probation, reviewed and evaluated the proposals based on the criteria listed in the RFP. The criteria included: Qualifications and Experience, Technical Specifications, Cost, and References.
Based on the evaluation criteria, the evaluation panel determined that Phamatech, Inc. best met the needs of the County departments with the top evaluation score and SCRAM of California, Inc. was the sole proposer for Continuous Alcohol Monitoring (CAM) devices and services, which is a crucial portion of the drug and alcohol testing services for Probation. Negotiations began on April 30, 2024, with both Phamatech, Inc. and SCRAM of California, Inc., and continued through June 20, 2024. Award and denial letters were sent to all responsible and responsive proposers on June 21, 2024. No protests were received within the allowable period.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by Behavioral Health (Rafael Villa, Program Manager I, 387-0812) on May 21, 2024; Probation (Julie Vega, Staff Analyst II, 387-5627) on May 23, 2024; County Counsel (Adam Ebright, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on May 23, 2024; Human Resources (Sandra Wakcher, Benefits Division Chief, 387-9676) on June 25, 2024; Children and Family Services (Jessica Cuthbert, Deputy Director, 388-0239) on June 27, 2024; Finance (Kathleen Gonzalez, Administrative Analyst, 387-5412) on July 22, 2024; and County Finance and Administration (Paloma Hernandez-Barker, Deputy Executive Officer, 387-5423) on July 31, 2024.