Title
Request to enter into new agreement for the provision of program evaluation and technical assistance to provide public health services through the Healthy Babies Program at the Sedgwick County Division of Health between Sedgwick County and the Community Engagement Institute (CEI) at Wichita State University.
Body
Contract Approval Process Form - Please see Section V of Charter 68 for reference.
1. If the request is over a $10,000 spend, have these services been competitively bid (pursuant to Purchasing Charter Resolution 68)? No.
a. If not, has this purchase received a waiver of competitive bidding from the Purchasing Director? Please provide proof. Yes. We are requesting County Manager approval per Charter 68 Section 3.1(C).
2. Purpose of the Contract (please be specific) Program evaluation is a systematic process to improve and account for public health work. CEI regularly conducts program evaluations and provides technical assistance to local health departments throughout the state of Kansas and has several professional program evaluators who have the technical skillset to assist our program. Several CEI staff also have extensive knowledge of maternal and child health programs and also regularly coordinate and conduct work on the behalf of KDHE who also funds our program. CEI is composed of several Centers and two Centers in particular will be executing this work: The Center for Public Health Initiatives and the Center for Applied Research and Evaluation. The contract with CEI would allow a lead evaluator to assign staff to work on the following and determine which staff would be most appropriate to conduct the work.
CEI contractors will be providing an annual and a five year grant cycle program evaluation of the Healthy Babies program as required by the HRSA grant. This process requires external evaluators to collect and analyze client and program data to describe program processes, outputs, and outcomes. This work must be completed by March 31st, 2019 as program funding ends for the current grant cycle. The results of this evaluation along with the technical assistance provided will enable the program to operate more efficiently and identify areas for quality improvement. Additionally, this funding is only available for this purpose and cannot be used for any other activities per grant requirements. Remaining funds get returned to HRSA and may impact future funding levels.
CEI website: <http://communityengagementinstitute.org/>
3. Justification for the Contract
a. Do we perform the services in house? We do not provide these services within Division of Health or Sedgwick County.
b. Is there an option to perform the services in house? There is not an option to perform these services as stipulated by the grant contract.
c. Do any other current County vendors provide the services (i.e., could we amend a current contract to add these services)? Division of Health does not maintain any current contracts with vendors that could provide this service.
4. Scope of the Contract
a. What services specifically will the Contractor be providing? Contractors would be examining program and client data to assess the overall process and impact of the Healthy Babies program. This would include interviews with program clients and Healthy Babies staff, survey creation, distribution, and analysis, background research on home visitation curriculum programs, comparisons to other home visitation programs and county comparison groups, and creation of a five year evaluation plan for the next grant cycle. Evaluators will also be providing quality assurance with our new software system and assisting with creating EHR operational policies and negotiating customization with the EHR vendor. These tasks are critical to meeting program outcomes and strategic objectives.
b. In the alternative, if this is a revenue-generating contract for the County, what services specifically will the County be providing? Not relative - not revenue generating.
5. What is the anticipated spend under this contract for all possible years of the contract (e.g., if this is a contract for 1 year with one 1-year option to renew, what is the total spend for both years of the contract)? The current grant cycle ends March 31st, 2019. This contract would fund services up to $40,000. CEI tracks staff hours per contract and would collectively bill us for all staff time dedicated to working on this evaluation. Total dollars spent at CEI would not exceed $40,000.
Fund Center: 380315-18
a. In the alternative, if this is a revenue-generating contract for the County, what is the anticipated annual revenue under this contract? Not relative - not revenue generating.
b. Please note: if the anticipated spend of the contract is $50,000+, the contract will need to be placed on a BoCC agenda for commission approval. Do not use this template for items going on an agenda. Please contact the Manager's Office if you have any questions.
6. If this is a renewal/extension of an existing contract, what was the previous annual spend for these services with this vendor? Not relative - this is a new contract.
a. If the services were performed by another vendor, what was the previous annual spend for those services? 2016 annual spend varied for the previous evaluation team but had an upper limit of $50,000 for all work completed in an annual cycle. This was split 5 ways among a separate evaluation team that is no longer in existence.
b. In the alternative, if this is a revenue-generating contract for the County, what was the previous annual revenue for performance of these services? Not relative - not revenue generating.
7. Requested Term of the Contract Start date thru March 31st, 2019.
a. Should the contract include any language for renewal? Not at this time.
8. Are there any specific terms that the user department would like included in the contract? Yes. This contract should stipulate that an annual evaluation plan be completed within 30 days of the start of each annual grant cycle. The evaluation plan should include the following: written deliverables with specific timelines for each evaluator, communication plan for monthly updates, estimated hours of work with budget for each deliverable and anticipated or required involvement of SCDOH staff to fulfill evaluator duties. Additionally, this evaluation plan must be reviewed, agreed to, and signed by each evaluator, Healthy Babies program manager, and the Children and Family Health Division Director.
9. What is the deadline for the user department receiving a draft of the contract? As soon as possible.
10. Will any private health information be exchanged between Sedgwick County and the vendor? If so, in what capacity? (If yes, a Business Associate Addendum (BAA) is required as an addendum to the agreement.) Yes. Vendors will have access to and receive protected health information as they will have access to client data and will interview/survey clients. We would request that all program data be deleted at the conclusion of this evaluation and that all individuals would secure program information on password protected computers on a secure network.