To: Board of Supervisors of Sonoma County
Department or Agency Name(s): Department of Health Services, Human Services Department, Probation Department, and Sonoma County Community Development Commission
Staff Name and Phone Number: Barbie Robinson, 565-7876, Karen Fies, David Koch, Margaret Van Vliet
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Contracting Principles for Safety Net Services Programs
End
Recommended Actions:
Recommended action
Approve proposed principles to inform how the Board and Departments contract for and fund safety net services programs.
end
Executive Summary:
Several County departments including the Department of Health Services, Human Services Department, Probation Department, Sonoma County Community Development Commission, and other agencies with a safety net focus plan for, purchase, and deliver key safety net services programs. The Departments are requesting approval of a set of principles to inform how the Board and Departments contract for and fund human services programs. By implementing the proposed principles, the Departments hope to 1) ensure that policy priorities are addressed in a coordinated and strategic manner, 2) ensure that resources and services are distributed equitably and fairly across regions, 3) promote a fair, open, and competitive process for vendor selection, and 4) reduce confusion among vendors as to how to obtain funding from the county.
Discussion:
The purpose of this report is to propose a set of principles to inform how the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and the Human Services Department, Department of Health Services, Probation Department, the Community Development Commission, and other agencies with a safety net focus (“the Departments”) plan for, purchase, and deliver key safety net services programs. The goals of this process are to:
• Ensure that policy priorities are addressed in a coordinated and strategic manner
• Ensure that resources and services are distributed equitably and fairly across regions
• Promote a fair, open, and competitive process for vendor selection
• Reduce confusion among vendors as to how to obtain funding from the county
The Challenge
The Board and the Departments work closely together to ensure that Sonoma County residents have access to the programs and services needed to help them thrive. Some of these services are provided directly by staff in county departments. Other services are provided by third party contractors. Typically, the Board will identify policy priorities and allocate funding to the Departments. Based upon the Board of Supervisor’s policy priorities and State and Federal mandates, departments follow statutorily defined procurement policies that ensure fair, open, competitive contract awards that deliver best value and identify the most responsible, responsive bidders. Contract awards outside of standard processes, such as budget hearing add-backs, may inhibit a Department’s ability to deliver on their strategic plans for achieving the Board’s policy priorities, and encourage bid protests.
Establishing Principles to Improve Coordination, Equity, and Transparency for Safety Net Services Provider Funding
The challenges described above can be remedied by establishing a set of principles for the Board and the Departments that will inform how they interact with one another to address County priorities. Broadly, the role of the Board is to:
• set high level policy priorities
• allocate funding to the Departments
• ensure that the needs of Sonoma County residents are being addressed fairly and equitably
The role of the Departments is to support the Board by:
• developing a plan for achieving the Board’s policy priorities
• identifying through a fair, open, and competitive process the most responsive, responsible providers to deliver the services necessary to achieve the plan
• managing and monitoring programs to ensure that County resources are being spent effectively
• providing the Board with regular updates on the progress and performance of programs
• developing a plan to implement a standard countywide mechanism to collect data and evaluate contract outcomes, which will provide the Board and the public data to confirm public fund investments yield the intended results
Attachment 1 provides the proposed principles to inform how the Board and Departments will work together with regards to setting policy, allocating funding, selecting providers, and managing contracts. Adoption of these principles can help move the County toward more sophisticated tracking of spending, and improved performance management of safety net programs to ensure that County funds are being spent efficiently, fairly, and effectively.
A Portrait of Sonoma County
A Portrait of Sonoma County, published in 2014, provided an in-depth look at the health and well-being of Sonoma County. The report examined disparities within the County between neighborhoods and along the lines of race, ethnicity, and gender, and provided the County, Cities, businesses, philanthropy, and community partners with a roadmap to reducing these disparities. The Portrait used census tract level data to paint a picture of the County, using the Human Development Index as its metric. The Human Development Index takes into account three elements of well-being and opportunity - access to a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of living. While the Portrait indicated that Sonoma fares better on these measures than the state overall, it also highlighted significant differences across racial and ethnic groups as well as geographic regions. By providing a standardized set of metrics across the county, the Portrait helped to increase public dialogue about the health and well-being of the people of Sonoma County, in particular raising awareness around geographic and racial inequities, and spurring communities and organizations to take action to reduce these inequities.
The Safety Net Departments are collectively working to update A Portrait of Sonoma County. The updated version of the Portrait will allow the County and Safety Net Departments to better understand where the overall need for services lie in our county and equip the Board and the Safety Net Departments to determine and direct resources to where the needs lie. The Portrait update will better inform Safety Net Departments in their determination of service delivery and where contracts must appropriately focus in terms of services, communities, and outcomes.
Probation Performance and Outcomes Policy Project
Examples of the Contracting Principles in action within the Probation Department include efforts to build quality assurance and outcome reporting into contracts, working with contractors to develop capacity for program performance reporting, and annual reporting of contracted program performance. In addition, the Probation Department hopes to engage with the Council of State Governments Justice Center to conduct a Juvenile System Review that will include examining the use and effectiveness of contracted services, and the collection and tracking of data for performance measurement.
Upstream Investments
Upstream Investments will implement the Results-Based Accountability (RBA) framework to support County departments to better monitor the performance and outcome of County-funded contracts. The Results-Based Accountability framework is a process for looking at not just the number of people served, but the effectiveness of our services. We will answer the question: are the people we serve better off as a result of our investments? Upstream Investments is hosting a series of technical assistance workshops with safety net departments and with local contractors to apply the Results-Based Accountability framework to our procurement process.
Prior Board Actions:
None
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY 18-19 Adopted |
FY19-20 Projected |
FY 20-21 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
|
|
|
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
|
|
|
|
Total Expenditures |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
|
|
|
State/Federal |
|
|
|
|
Fees/Other |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
There are no direct fiscal impacts associated with this item.
|
Staffing Impacts: |
|
|
|
|
Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A - I Step) |
Additions (number) |
Deletions (number) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
N/A
Attachments:
Proposed Principles for Safety Net Programs, Safety Net Contracted Expenditures for Fiscal Year 2017-2018
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None