REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
January 11, 2022
FROM
JOSHUA DUGAS, Director, Department of Public Health
SUBJECT
Title
Contract with El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center to Provide California Home Visiting Program within San Bernardino County Using the Healthy Families America Model
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve contract with El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center to provide family-centered home visiting services under the California Home Visiting Program, in the amount of $2,380,000, for the two-year period of January 11, 2022 through January 10, 2024.
(Presenter: Joshua Dugas, Director, 387-9146)
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
This item does not impact Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The total cost of $2,380,000 for family-centered home visiting services under the California Home Visiting Program (CHVP) is funded by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and does not require a local match. Adequate appropriation and revenue have been included in the Department of Public Health’s (DPH) 2021-22 budget and will be included in future recommended budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division (MCAH) of the CDPH has allocated State General Fund monies to local health jurisdictions to administer CHVP. The funding is allocated to 23 counties based on risk-adjusted Medi-Cal births. These funds are available for leveraging existing home visiting program budgets or for starting new programs. San Bernardino County (County) will be starting a new CHVP.
CHVP will use the Healthy Families America (HFA) model to provide services to pregnant and newly parenting families who have one or more of the following risk factors: domestic violence, inadequate income, unstable housing, less than 12 years of education, substance abuse, depression, and/or mental illness. The program anticipates serving 200 families per year, which is $5,950 per family, per year.
The goal of CHVP is to promote maternal health and well-being, improve infant and child health and development, strengthen family functioning, and cultivate strong communities. The program is designed for overburdened families who are at risk for Adverse Childhood Experiences. CHVP services are provided in client homes by home visiting staff. CHVP services include screening and assessments to determine families at risk; routine screening and assessment of parent-child interactions, child development, and maternal depression assessment; parent support groups and father involvement programs; and offer two to four visits per month prenatally per site. For any period of time during which COVID-19 prevents home visits, services may be provided virtually. Interaction with home visitor staff gives parents the tools to independently raise their children through preventive interventions focused on promoting and reinforcing positive parenting and child development.
Contractor performance will be monitored by review of monthly reports and an annual site visit to ensure compliance with the administrative, program, and fiscal terms and conditions of the contract. Contractor 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. Contractor charges must be for services provided to eligible beneficiaries under this funded program. Human Services Auditing will review the invoice and attachments remitted by the Contractor prior to payment. The County reserves the right to request additional program and/or fiscal reports to facilitate this monthly review. The term of this Contract is two years. The Contract may be terminated without cause by the County with 30 days written notice.
PROCUREMENT
The County Administrative Office approved and authorized the release of a Request for Proposal (RFP) on August 19, 2021 (RFP HS 21-06/ePro Bid#DPHE21-MH-4287) to solicit proposals from interested and qualified agencies to provide family-centered home visiting services for a period of two years. The RFP was publically advertised through direct mailings to prospective agencies and posted on San Bernardino County’s Electronic Procurement Network (ePro).
Twelve agencies attended the non-mandatory proposal conference on September 2, 2021. Three proposals were received by the established deadline in response to the RFP. Proposals from three agencies listed below met the minimum requirements and continued through the evaluation process.
|
Agency |
Proposal Region To Be Served |
Proposed Cost Per Fiscal Year |
|
California Association of Health & Education Linked Professionals (CAHELP) |
Countywide |
$1,198,004 |
|
Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) |
Countywide |
$1,190,000 |
|
El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center (El Sol) |
Countywide |
$1,197,800 |
Public Health estimated the amount of annual funding available for the RFP, not to exceed $1,190,000 per fiscal year, based on data from Prevent Child Abuse America (PCAA), developer of the Healthy Families America model. PCAA provided suggested budget amounts for various levels of caseload (number of families served).
The evaluation committee, comprised of five individuals with representation from DPH, Human Services (HS) Auditing Division, and HS Program Development Division, reviewed and evaluated the proposals based on the criteria referenced in the RFP. The criteria included: cost per participant served, capacity to serve high-risk/underserved populations, capacity to administer programs that improve health outcomes, articulation of a successful plan of outreach to families to be served by CHVP, ability to provide specified services by contract start date, experience in providing services described in the RFP, ability to serve in specific geographic area(s), and ability to serve the number of unduplicated participants indicated.
Based on the evaluation criteria, the evaluation committee determined El Sol best met the needs of the County and is being recommended for award. Agencies not recommended for contract award were notified by mail and advised they were able to submit a formal written protest to the HS Contracts Unit based on the criteria in the RFP. No written protests were received.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by Human Services Contracts (Becky Giroux, Contracts Manager, 388-0241) on December 10, 2021; County Counsel (Adam Ebright, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on December 10, 2021; Finance (Paul Garcia, Administrative Analyst, 386-8392) on December 6, 2021; and County Finance and Administration (Cheryl Adams, Deputy Executive Officer, 388-0238) on December 14, 2021.