To: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Probation Department
Staff Name and Phone Number: Vanessa Fuchs, (707) 565-2732
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): All
Title:
Title
Agreement with BI Incorporated for Electronic Monitoring
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Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Authorize the Chief Probation Officer to execute a professional services agreement with BI Incorporated to operate electronic monitoring programs for adult and youth justice-involved individuals effective April 1, 2024, through June 30, 2026, with three one-year extension options, for a total not-to-exceed amount of $4,500,000.
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Executive Summary:
Electronic monitoring benefits the community by providing an alternative for justice-involved individuals who otherwise might be incarcerated at a much greater expense or who might be released into the community without the safety of continuous monitoring.
This recommendation covers adult and juvenile Probation and Pretrial services. The Department is seeking authority for retroactive approval of this agreement, which would start on April 1, 2024, the date the previous contract expired. The delay in seeking Board approval resulted from staffing shortages and associated delays in executing the request for proposals process.
Discussion:
Sonoma County’s electronic monitoring program for adults serves probationers and defendants released from incarceration during the pre-adjudication period. BI Incorporated, the current provider, offers various devices and applications to communicate with those under supervision, monitor their alcohol intake, and determine their locations. The Probation Department uses electronic monitoring for approximately 75 adult probationers, and 190 adult defendants on pretrial release each month.
Additionally, Probation offers an electronic confinement program to supervised juvenile justice-involved youth in lieu of confinement in the juvenile correctional facility. In addition to the benefit of reducing correctional facility populations, this program also provides the Court with sentencing options to assist youth with transitioning into the community. The Probation Department uses electronic monitoring for approximately 80 justice-involved youth each month.
Following is additional information about each of the three types of supervision the electronic monitoring program provides.
Probationer Supervision
The Probation Department uses electronic monitoring to assist in supervising probationers, either as an intermediate sanction due to violating supervision conditions or as imposed by the Court as a condition of release from custody. State Assembly Bill 109 Public Safety Realignment revenue funds this service, as approved by the Sonoma County Community Corrections Partnership.
Pretrial Monitoring
Pretrial monitoring allows the Superior Court to release defendants from custody while awaiting trial. The program aims to protect public safety while reducing unnecessary incarceration and its associated costs. The Court began using pretrial services in January 2015, and usage has steadily increased since then. As of April 24, 2024, 768 individuals are on pretrial release-approximately equaling the number of individuals at the Main Adult Detention Facility.
Juvenile Supervision
The Juvenile Probation electronic monitoring program serves as an intermediate sanction or a detention alternative in addition to enhancing public safety by allowing officers an added option in monitoring youth in the community.
Request for Proposals
In March 2024, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office and the Probation Department jointly issued a request for proposals from vendors interested in providing electronic monitoring equipment and services. The following four organizations submitted proposals:
• Track Group, Inc., an Illinois corporation,
• CorrectiveSolutions, a Delaware corporation with an office in Santa Rosa,
• SCRAM of California, an S corporation based in San Diego, and
• BI Incorporated, a Colorado corporation, which currently operates Sonoma County’s electronic monitoring services.
Proposals were rated by a committee of representatives from the Sheriff’s Office and the Probation Department. Clear criteria were used in rating proposals, including qualifications and experience, program services, and cost of service.
While each proposal offered services generally responsive to the request for proposals, BI Incorporated offered several advantages to Sonoma County, including producing its own equipment, an ample level of staffing, extensive experience providing the proposed services in multiple counties throughout California, documented 24/7 service with fast response times, an unlimited allowance for lost and damaged equipment as well as spare equipment, and a highly professional presentation. Importantly, BI Incorporated submitted the lowest rates of the four proposals, and BI Incorporated’s proposed prices are also below its current pricing.
Based on its proposal review, the evaluation committee recommends awarding the electronic monitoring services contract to BI Incorporated.
Approval of the proposed agreement with BI Incorporated will allow the Probation Department to continue its electronic monitoring operations, which facilitate oversight of probationers, thereby improving community safety. Additionally, electronic monitoring reduces unnecessary incarceration and its associated costs and helps manage the jail population by providing the Court a safer option to allow defendants to remain in the community while awaiting adjudication. While in the community, monitored individuals can maintain their jobs, meet family obligations, and be contributing community members versus incarceration, which tends to detach individuals from their support systems, leading to increased reliance on the criminal justice system and other human services programs.
The Sheriff’s Office will execute a separate professional services agreement for electronic monitoring associated with its lower-risk inmate detention alternatives program.
Strategic Plan:
This item directly supports the County’s Five-year Strategic Plan and is aligned with the following pillar, goal, and objective.
Pillar: Healthy and Safe Communities
Goal: Goal 5: Continue to invest in public safety so that residents and visitors feel safe in our community.
Objective: Objective 4: Expand detention alternatives with the goal of reducing the jail population, from pre-pandemic levels, by 15% at the end of 2022, while simultaneously reducing recidivism amongst the supervised offender population.
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
Prior Board Actions:
05/11/2021: Board approval of BI Incorporated electronic monitoring contract
05/19/2020: Board approval of BI Incorporated electronic monitoring contract
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY23-24 Adopted |
FY24-25 Projected |
FY25-26 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
$707,000 |
$855,000 |
$855,000 |
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
|
|
|
|
Total Expenditures |
$707,000 |
$855,000 |
$855,000 |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
|
|
|
State/Federal |
$707,000 |
$855,000 |
$855,000 |
|
Fees/Other |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
General Fund Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
$707,000 |
$855,000 |
$855,000 |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
The Probation Department projects actual FY 23-24 costs of $707,000 for adult and juvenile individuals utilizing electronic monitoring. Costs for juvenile justice-involved youth are reimbursed with State Juvenile Probation Realignment Funds. State Assembly Bill 109 Realignment revenue will cover costs in the adult division.
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Staffing Impacts: |
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Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
None
Attachments:
BI Incorporated Agreement
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None