ALC-Review
Video
Transcript
10 documents
Machine transcript
May contain errors. Verify important quotations against the official video.
About transcript accuracy
- Source
- Whisper
- Model
- ggml-large-v3-turbo.bin RTX5060
- Processing date
- October 7, 2026
Unknown speaker
0:00
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
3:30
Get the review meeting started, and first up, I think we're going to have a couple supplemental agendas. Mark, don't go too far because you're going to be number one on the agenda, but first off we're going to need a motion to suspend
Speaker 5
3:55
the rules. Motion. Motion. All right. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? No. All right. All right. And Ms. Kathy, will you go over?
Chair
Unverified
4:04
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You all should have on your desk a packet that says supplemental agenda, suspension of the rules request, and this first request is from DHS, and the request is for the review of a request for qualifications RFQ approval process. If you'll remember when we changed our rules back in the session one of the things is if an agency wants to use an RFQ request for
qualifications in procuring contracts and they fall outside the range of those contracts that for architects engineers attorneys then they have to go before OSP to get approval and then come here for review and DHS on the first page of this packet shows us that they submitted these items or started submitting them 10 days ago but this is a new DHS is the first one to
first agency to need to request this and there weren't really procedures in place and what letters we needed and how OSB was going to respond to this so we have just gotten that documentation all completed recently. You'll see letters from Mr. Armstrong on page three sending the packet of information over. There are letters here from DHS that explain what it is that they're procuring services for and then the final letter from Mr. Armstrong back to DHS begins on
page 12. There are two different types of services that they are requesting to do through an RFQ and they want to be able to award that to multiple individual or multiple agency groups to provide those services. And those are for community-based services, for residential group home services, and also for sexual rehabilitative services. Then on the last paragraph, you'll notice that Mr. Armstrong on page 13 has determined that an RFQ is the most suitable method
given that DHS and DYS are planning to utilize fixed reimbursement rates on these services and those have been agreed upon and so therefore he has given his approval for them to use the RFQ process to solicit these services and DHS is available as well as OSP for any questions the members might have. All right and before we start taking
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
6:41
questions Mark if you all go ahead and introduce yourselves for the thank mr chairman mark white with dhs
Speaker 5
6:50
michael crump dys okay and if you just briefly kind of walk us through from your perspective you know how we got to where we are and any relevant details that you think the committee
Speaker 14
7:03
committee needs to know about would appreciate that certainly mr chairman and and ms smith covered much of what i was going to say so i'll try not be doesn't have it to do in that trust me so we this is a procurement for community-based services and group homes for the vision of youth services as many of you have heard we have made a concentrated effort over the
last year to really transform how we do business within dys and to have a greater focus on serving kids in the communities and only putting them in residential facilities when that's really necessary and is appropriate for public safety and for the for the child and so we have these contracts for these community-based services and group homes we already have a rate that's set that we pay for these services we'd like to keep paying that same rate our budget is based on that rate and so because the rate is really not a question here we want to focus on making a choice on looking
at the vendors they're willing to accept that rate and what their qualifications are so we make sure we get the most qualified vendor so that's why we're wanting to use an rfq for this approach as ms schmidt said this is i believe we're the first agency to come to you since the law changed requiring your approval to issue an rfq and so there's we've been working through with office state procurement and within our staff to feel our way through this process to figure out what the what the process should be make sure that we're uh complying with any requirements in the law
and that took us more time than we expected so we certainly apologize for that but but But that's why we're here on this point, and Mr. Crump, I'll let him give a little more details about these services and what we're seeking to
Speaker 20
8:40
procure. Thank you. Mr. White is correct. We are looking to procure services, community-based services, which is the larger of the RFQs. We have 11 providers or 11 judicial districts or districts around the state that are comprising of several different judicial districts.
These are the services that are provided and directed by the courts for juveniles out in the community that need different types of interventions, mentoring, different types of parenting classes, life skills. They need supervision, electronic monitoring. These services vary from judicial district to judicial district. The judges direct what services they need, and they work with the provider in each one of those regions to make sure that those providers can provide those services for the kids as the court directs. They also provide what we call aftercare or reentry services for children who have been committed to the Division of Youth Services
and are now returning to the community to make sure that those kids have some supervision in place and continue to get the services and get the education needs and all those things that they have once they are discharged from our custody. So the first is for those types of services that we've been paying for with these providers for many years and I always work with the courts to make those things available so that hopefully we can keep the kids from having to be committed to our custody. The second RFQ would be for our group homes, our residential group homes.
Most of these will be for our regular offenders for boys and then one all-girl facility. We have a much smaller female population than we do boys, so we're looking to procure three group homes for boys and then one group home for girls. Currently, we don't have one specifically for girls. We try to find those beds within just the facilities at large, and it's always been kind of difficult because for them to hold open beds and one that has boys and girls and also to mix the populations,
you can't really do that. So we're doing those four, and then also a sex offender residential facility as well. We have one of those currently with consolidated youth services, so we're looking to procure those services again. All right. Representative
Chair
Unverified
10:49
Love, you are recognized for a question, sir.
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
10:52
Thank you, Chair. Actually, my question is for the Office of State Procurement. Okay. Tell you what,
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
10:58
if you don't mind holding on that, I've got just one quick question while we got DOIS up there.
Are there any more questions on this specifically? Okay, you just want to hear from Ed about procurement? Ed, you want to come up here real quickly then? or
Speaker 29
11:32
I transition off at Armstrong State Procurement Director Office of State
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
11:35
Procurement okay thank you Mr. Armstrong and thank you Mr. Chair
I guess my question is this because
I know we usually We used to use RFPs and in this process now. Why is the RFQ more preferable? versus the RFP When awarding these types of services because usually it is architects and engineers that we use for this piece So tell me tell me tell me why you decided to sign up on this Well
Speaker 30
12:03
one thing you have to bear in mind that in this case the program determination had already been made that DHS is going to reimburse
people regardless of who they are they're going to get paid the same rate. IFBs and RFPs open that question up to market competition and ask people to tell us what will you pay. So in this case since that's not the question not what will you pay because instead we're telling them this is what you will be paid then an RFQ is appropriate because that just focuses in on what are the qualifications and picking the most qualified person since price competition isn't a factor because if you use an IFB there's no way of deciding if you're
paying everybody the same an IFB the award goes to the lowest bidder that's inapplicable here there is no lowest bidder because everybody will be paid the same if they're qualified if you do an RFP our RFP statute requires that you consider evaluation factors and price and you have to give price a weighting of 20% I think no I'm sorry we changed the law so now it's 30% but in this case again price isn't going to be part of how they determine it because they're setting that price so given that fact that they're controlling for price and
Speaker 33
13:22
there is no price competition I decided at an RFQ RFQ would be appropriate okay all
Speaker 35
13:27
right thank you all right thank you mr. chair thank you thank
Speaker 37
13:31
you mr. Armstrong all right members are there any other questions on this all right
Speaker 5
13:35
before we move on Mr. Crump okay seeing I will go ahead and approve this okay all
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
13:43
right are there without objections this item will stand as approved Mr. Crump just while I've got you up here I understand that the DLS contract for the
Speaker 5
13:53
treatment facilities is coming up he's gonna end this coming June is that correct correct so that's gonna be here before you know it so what's y'all's game plan i understand that you're not looking to get into the day-to-day operations uh of these facilities so if you could fill the committee in on kind of where you are at and what's
Speaker 20
14:10
your plan moving forward sure that that's correct we would prefer not to run them ourselves again um we just learned middle or late last week of yy's intention to end which we're appreciative they gave us enough time at least several months instead of a very short period of time to be able to make that
transition we have already reached out and spoken to the other vendor uh to start talking about whether there's a willingness to transition those facilities over under since we have two vendors in the state and the other vendor has been here for quite some time I'm already providing these types of services we've already reached out is that the vendor that was disqualified yes all rights of passage was okay okay they were the only
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
14:48
two all right members are any questions on that
Speaker 5
14:50
that was kind of off the beaten path there but since we had them up here all right seeing none these items will stand as reviewed. Thank
Chair
Unverified
15:00
you, gentlemen. Mr. Chairman, we have another suspension of the rules
request that has just recently come in. This is for vehicle lease for the Arkansas Tobacco Control Board, and so if the legislature would like at this time,
Speaker 12
15:15
we can suspend the rules to take that item up all right members
Speaker 11
15:21
I need a motion to suspend motion second all right all in
Speaker 49
15:26
favor opposed all right okay this is this is on
Speaker 7
15:30
an attachment that says suspension of the rules
Chair
Unverified
15:35
request on it on page two of this is a letter from Mr. Armstrong the tobacco control board routinely leases vehicles pursuant to a food and drug administration grant that they receive That's federal funds that they receive. This grant fully funds this, and that grant terms prohibit them from using those funds to purchase vehicles, so they have to lease them. And they note that they just changed over to being under DFA,
and so they've just realized that this is an item that needed to come for review. So even though OSP has basically said that they find that the statute might prevent a state agency from complying with terms and conditions of federal assistance requirements that the federal contract requirements that it wouldn't necessarily have to be reviewed, the agency still out of abundance of caution asked to have this lease reviewed.
There are five vehicles. You'll see on page three the letter from Arkansas Tobacco Control where they lease these vehicles from Enterprise Rent-A-Car. They are cost-effective system for vehicles. They are returned with no penalties if they have to end the service before the lease is up. They are utilized by certified law enforcement officers for tobacco inspections. They have a monthly rate, and on page four, you'll see who they plan on contracting with,
the vendor, enterprise, rent-a-car, for 2018 Camrys or similar type vehicles, and there are five of them, $842.48 per vehicle per month, unlimited mileage, insurance, and maintenance. And so then on page five, we have an email that was received prior to the meeting. They submitted this information to the Office of State Procurement back in January, January 24th, which would have been in time to be on the agenda of the 10-day requirement that we have.
But there were some questions, and DFA admits that they didn't have a chance to get back with them until this morning, and so DFA was sending requesting that we take this up today. If not, the agency stands a chance of losing those vehicles and not being able to continue these leases. So again, this used to be an approval item for the legislature, but in the last session this was changed. It's now a review item for this committee and approval by OSP after we review the item.
So that's the request for tobacco control, and I'm sure they are here as well as OSP
Speaker 2
18:31
right, members, are there any questions on this? Comments? All right, seeing none
Chair
Unverified
18:41
and without objection, this item will stand as reviewed. Mr. Chairman, the first item on our regular agenda happens to be a timber sale. This is another item that we're not used to seeing very often. Item B, page 1, DHS has special language in their appropriation bill for disability determination
that requires that any contracts initiated for the harvesting of timber shall be submitted to the review subcommittee or joint budget committee for prior review, and also any sales from those products are required to be used for human development centers. So DHS worked with Agri Department Forestry on developing a plan. They have 112 acres at the Boonville site. They have marked the timber that is to be not removed, and they have done up a bid proposal, and they received bids, and they have selected on page 6, you'll see they've selected Wes Frazier out of Russellville,
and on page 10, you'll see that they have the amounts that they're willing to be paid for the timber that will be processed off of that land for the next year. So again, this is a review item for the subcommittee, but this has to do with the timber sale and the reporting of this information prior to the execution of this contract for review due to special language.
Speaker 5
20:17
All right, members, you've heard an explanation. Are there any questions or comments? All right, seeing none without objection, this
Chair
Unverified
20:26
item will stand as reviewed. Mr. Chairman, the next item on our agenda are methods of finance, beginning in item C, page one. This is the letter from the Office of Accounting, basically stating that these agencies are sending over methods of finance to be reviewed today on page two of the packet. The first one is ASU Jonesboro. This is for their health, physical education, and sports sciences complex, and it's for the air handler.
They note that they have university reserves to cover the $584,080 for this project. Number two, ASU Jonesboro also for renovations to the first floor lab sciences west. This is $380,900. They have university reserves to cover that. Next is SAU Tech. This is for a 120-bed dormitory at the Arkansas Fire Training Academy. This is revised to $7,129,454, and this cost includes the construction
and any additional fees based on construction costs. They note that they have some general improvement funds to use for this, as well as agency bank funds, and then a very small portion, which would be tuition and fees for that school. UA Division of Agriculture has one for their multipurpose lab and office complex. This is being revised to $9 million. They have agri-reserves to cover that. Number five, UA Division of Agri for the Clarksville Research Greenhouse, $500,000 agri-reserves.
Number six on page three is the UA Division of Agri for the Horticulture Demonstration Greenhouse. in Fayetteville, $750,000, and then you have their laboratory building, HVAC system, $500,000, and then number eight, their equipment storage lot at their Jonesboro location, $550,000. On that one, they note that they have gifts to fund that particular project. Number nine is UA Fayetteville for their global campus first floor renovations,
and we're also going to see a contract for the architect services which will be in the contract section. They have university reserves to cover that. Number 10 on page 4 is UAMS. This is for steam sterilizers, $296,000. They have university reserves, UAMS reserves, and revenues to cover that. Then you have UAMS for number 11 for the Monroe Building Renovation.
This is to renovate the building formerly used by the Red Cross for use by UAMS, $315,000. They have clinical revenues and reserves to use for that. There's also a contract for that architect or engineer in the contract section as well. UA Pine Bluff has a couple. larrison hall for additional research and teaching space for the school of agri human services and fisheries three million dollars they have a federal grant funds to cover that and then uapb
for the student union restoration and renovation uh one million three hundred seventy thousand and they have general improvement as well as university reserves for that one and then finally on page five UAPB for the classrooms, labs, common areas for their biology and STEM students, $5,300,000, and its federal grant funds. Those are the methods of finance on today's agenda. All right, members, you've heard an explanation of these.
Speaker 5
24:09
Are there any questions or comments? All right, and without objection, these items
Speaker 7
24:18
will stand as reviewed. the next items are
Chair
Unverified
24:20
grants and discretionary grants from a department of health and department human services on page one are the grants from the health department the first one is the arkansas cancer coalition an amendment for that for the cancer plan objectives and strategies for education on hpv and benefits of vaccination this is an amendment forward of that we'll note that this
is 100% state funded and when I say that that is the tobacco tax funding that provides for this and then we have grants numbers 2 through 11 these are all going to be for various for health care services at a local level level at charitable clinics throughout the state again this is another one that is funded through tobacco tax funding. That takes us through number 11. So those are all
for the health department. Next we have DHS has some grants. The first one is for state opioid response for peers achieving collaborative treatment project. This is an amendment for that. It's federally funded. Then you have number two through nine. These all look like these are for continuing education for new wellness benefits aimed at preventing disease and promoting wellness with the Medicaid Improvement for Patients and Providers Act.
Those are all federally funded amendments to that. And then number 10 is DHS County Ops for training of Arkansas Community Action Agency Network. And number 11 is DHS. This one is for palliative care principles for appropriate skilled nursing facilities. This was an original. The funding for this is other, and that would be from Office of Long-Term Care Civil Penalties.
So those are the grants on
Speaker 5
26:19
today's agenda. All right, members, you've heard an explanation. Are there any questions, comments? All right, seeing none and without
Chair
Unverified
26:26
objection, these items will stand as reviewed. The next group of contracts are, the next group, excuse me, are our contracts, procurement contracts, and they, the first page is a letter from Mr. Armstrong stating that all the contracts appear to be legal contracts requiring services and are submitted for review. on page one we start with our construction related contracts the first two are for Arkansas Tech
the first one is an original contract and this is for restoration and rebuilding Williamson Hall which was damaged by fire back in April of 2019 and then you have an amendment for Arkansas Tech for their whole physical education building the next ones are going to be for DFA building authority. The first one, number three there at the bottom of page one is for the all ABA owned and operated facilities. Number four on page two, this one is for the justice building. This is an
original contract for that. Number five is DFA building authority for renovation and repair projects. Number six is, again, it's kind of like an on-call contract for their operated and owned facilities as needed. Number seven is for Henderson State University. This is an amendment to an existing on-call environmental engineering services contract that they have. In talking with the agency about this, they've had some asbestos cleanup and removal that needed to take place.
they had a ceiling fall in in a pool area and part of the building had some asbestos and they also had some labs that had to be cleaned up. Number eight North Arkansas College is for North Arc re-roofing projects. Number nine UA Fayetteville this is for their global campus first floor this is the contract for the architect we saw the method of finance back on in the methods of finance. The next one is for lab replacement building, an amendment to that contract. Number
11, again for UA Fayetteville, is for their agri-sciences building project, amendment for that. Number 12 is UAMS. This is for the repair and renovation of the Monroe Building, formerly occupied by the Red Cross. We saw the method of finance for this previously. Number 13 is Architectural Services for the Shorey Building, for the College of Medicine's faculty offices, number 14 UAMS, and this is for creating an ear, nose, and throat institute in the Jack Stevens
Spine Building. Those are the construction-related contracts on today's agenda. All right,
Speaker 2
29:14
member, are there any questions, any comments? All right, seeing none and without objection, these items will
Chair
Unverified
29:23
stand as reviewed. The next group of contracts, Mr. Chairman, begin with intergovernmental contracts and these begin on page five. The first one is the Agri Department with the University of Arkansas Fayetteville and this is for conducting applied research under field conditions leading to additional information to be extended to Arkansas citizens and relevant industry
through extension education and collaborative engagement. Number two, this is Economic Development Commission with UAMS. You might remember that we saw this contract last month, and at the ALC meeting, it was pulled down. They have revised this contract. There is a different term start date. This will be for reviewing applications for Arkansas Rural Connect grant program. There were adjustments made to the contract based on input
from legislators, so we have that back on the agenda. Number three is the health department, UAMS this is for outbreak response physician will provide outbreak response activities for the health department's outbreak response section and then number four UALR with University of Wyoming for strategic prevention framework and partnership for success program those are the intergovernmental contracts on today's agenda all right representative Wardlaw you're recognized
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
30:50
for questions, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My question is on item number two. Can you guys go through all the changes in that contract other than the date? I understand there were some more significant changes made
Chair
Unverified
31:06
to that other than the date. Yes, sir. There were other changes to some of the concerns that were raised by legislators, and I think there are people here that can possibly address what those changes were.
Speaker 58
31:20
and if you all will give us your names and positions
Speaker 69
31:29
for the record name is stephen porch chief legal counsel for the department of
Chair
Unverified
31:34
commerce nathan smith state broadband manager at the department of commerce clint moore arkansas department
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
31:40
of commerce economic analyst representative warlaw you are recognized to proceed with
Speaker 37
31:44
your questions you guys hear my question can y'all
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
31:46
go through some of the changes to contracts and agreements that were made yes sir one of the changes was
Speaker 73
31:56
brought to our attention by senator irving there was a term of 500 people in there when we amended the contract we allowed it to be more expansive meaning that not only 500 people unincorporated areas as well could also apply for the grant the contract as written did not reflect that so we removed the term of the 500 and and just said applicants opposed to a term or a number which made it consistent with what our contract has
said well what our rules have said so that's the main change that we made in there as well as the start date but everything else is relatively the same thank you that was a concern
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
32:44
i had as well considering that i represent a very rural area so thank you for that change and thank you senator for your leadership thank you
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
32:58
all right any other questions members oh sorry senator ervin you were recognized for question
thank you thank you representative warthaw for the question
um and i do appreciate us working through those things um i think there's more work to be done and that's to be determined later and and i appreciate the cooperation we've had thus far and i also would state that um it was important to make sure that those rules and regs match the contract that came before us and so that's important and also to note i know there was some um just clarify i think it was clarified for me
but you could clarify for the legislature how we arrived to the 34 applications. I think y'all gave a $250,000 amount, and then they worked backwards from that. Is that correct and came up with, this is how many applications we could do for that money? Would that be a fair
Speaker 69
33:55
statement? That would be a fair statement, Senator. They were basing it on 8-hour to 16-hour review. they'll have a team reviewing it and so the number came up to about 34 contracts that they can review
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
34:10
right so that's an easy answer that we just didn't get last time around and so working through it with uams i was able to get that information but um and so anyway i just wanted to just make those comments and i look forward to continue to work with you on these issues thanks same here senator All right. Thank y'all. All right. Members,
Speaker 53
34:35
I'm not seeing any more questions, and without objection, these items will stand as reviewed. Thank you.
Speaker 7
34:41
Mr. Chairman, the next group of contracts
Chair
Unverified
34:44
that we have on today's agenda are out-of-state contracts. They begin on page 7 of your e-packet. The first one is ASU Jonesboro. This is for providing engineering, technical, and production support for their athletics department, And this has to do with their video board productions and ESPN3 productions. DFA Management Services has one there for cloud services subscription for success factors.
And a little more detail on this. This is software which will allow Department of Transformation and Share Services Office of Personnel Management to perform human resource functions for the state. Number three is Education Department, and this is for the Computer Assisted Instruction Program for the Arkansas Educator Licensing System. Number four is the Health Department for their Baby and Me Tobacco-Free Program. Number five starts some for DHS.
This first one is for the Children and Family Services for Assessing Performance. Number six, DHS for on-site reviews of integrated eligibility and benefits management solutions. Number seven is a contract for DHS for guard services at their Pulaski North and Pulaski Southwest offices. Number eight, on page eight, this is for employment verification system.
Number nine is an amendment to a contract to provide third-party liability recovery services for the Arkansas Medicaid program. Number 10, DHS for Integrated Eligibility System to Medicaid Management Information System Pharmacy Integration Project. Number 11 on page 10 is for actuarial services for DHS. Number 12 is an amendment for Arkansas's Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services financial reporting.
Number 13 is DHS for Data Quality Improvement Initiative and the Arkansas Integrated Eligibility System integration effort. Then on page 12, contract number 14 there for sentencing commission. This is an original contract for a 10-year population projection of adult correctional populations in state custody and community supervision populations. Number 15 is state police. This is a contract for amendment for application and recovery of retiree drug subsidies under their uniformed health plan.
Those are the out-of-state contracts on today's agenda.
Speaker 38
37:31
All right. representative Dotson you have a question what's that contract yes Mr. Chair
Representative Jim Dotson
Unverified
37:37
it is number four the health department all right we get somebody from
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
37:42
the health department up here right members that's contract
Speaker 58
37:45
number four on page seven great don't give us your name and position for the record
Speaker 88
38:02
Stephanie Williams chief of staff at the Department
Speaker 37
38:05
of Health thank you mr. Williams representative Dodson
Representative Jim Dotson
Unverified
38:08
you recognize procedure question thank you mr. chair so is this a brand new program for cessation and can you explain what the it says incentive vouchers how what are those how do those work and how much are they yes sir it is
a new program this is an evidence-based program recommended by the CDC and it has been used by numerous other states so we're not an early adopter we're a little bit of a late adopter it is a new program
that consists of educational lessons that are delivered by health care professionals to to the pregnant women and their spouses and the incentives that are provided are diapers and wipes there's not a financial incentive so that's what the
the vouchers go for yes each time
they successfully complete a module they're given a package of diapers and wipes okay thank you all right good
Speaker 5
39:05
all right thank you representative senator Hester you're in
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
39:10
center Cheatham's correct yes okay you're recognized for a question senator thank you I think it's it's along the same lines I mean what what we've seen I think we've learned that the tobacco cessation money is yielding nothing for the state of Arkansas we spend endless money on it so
what we're saying here is we're not we're not gonna stop anybody from smoking or all history has proven we're not but at least we're giving somebody some diapers for coming in
Representative Jim Dotson
Unverified
39:36
right is that is that is that the program well our goal is to help these women stop smoking we have over 5,000 women that deliver baby every year and
smoke during their pregnancy so we still feel like it's a significant problem and we feel like this program is a mechanism to help those women we're gonna use this program with women who are coming in for WIC services, so that's the Supplemental Nutrition Program. They already are receiving Nutrition Ed, so this is another component of the education that we'd like to deliver to these women. Are we just starting this
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
40:09
program? I see it's 224 of 750. Have we been doing this? Is this the very start of this program? This is new for us in Arkansas,
Representative Jim Dotson
Unverified
40:19
But the CDC has evaluated this program, and the Association of Maternal Child Health has looked at this program and deemed it a best practice. Other states are using the program, Mississippi, Tennessee, all of our surrounding states are utilizing this program. And we have reached out and talked to other states and have heard good things about the program. If somebody's
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
40:40
eligible for WIC, are they already not eligible to get diapers and wipes and the things that
Representative Jim Dotson
Unverified
40:47
they need? So WIC doesn't provide diapers and wipes. Correct, but eligible, likely.
It is only for their nutrition prescription for healthy foods. They don't get to pick other things. They only get a certain food package. Okay. All right,
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
41:04
yeah, I think as a general rule, there's concern that we have dumped hundreds of millions of dollars down
the drain on the tobacco sensation. And, you know, one, I'll just tell my colleagues, I've been talking about this with more and more, that we have real needs in our child welfare programs
and we can pay our social workers more money. I think these programs with this tobacco sensation, I would like for us to consider giving that money to DCFS and allowing these social workers when they are in these homes to talk about smoking. They're going to be there anyway. They're going to be in people's homes anyway. It doesn't take any more effort to hand out another pamphlet or talk about smoking, and then we can give these social workers more
of the help that they need going forward.
Speaker 5
41:54
I'm finished. Thank you. Thanks, Senator. All right, members. Any other questions, comments? Seeing none, these items will
Speaker 7
42:05
stand as reviewed. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, the next group of contracts are the in-state contracts, beginning
Chair
Unverified
42:12
on page 13 of your e-packet, the first one, Career Education Rehab Services. This is for payroll processing for their Arkansas Career Development Center for boiler operators. Next, we have DHS for therapeutic foster care services for DCFS clients statewide.
DHS, number three, for comprehensive or incidental treatment services statewide. Number four is DHS for continued speech therapy services for residents of the Southeast Arkansas Human Development Center. Number five, DHS for Jonesboro Human Development Center for their occupational therapy services. Number six is for DHS for design, development, and implementation services for Medicaid management information system, MMIS. Number seven, DHS for consultant to work on the provision of pharmacy
services. Number eight, number eight through 13, these are all going to be for the insurance Department. These are all not adding any dollar amount to these contracts, but they are noting that the rate for compensation is changing from $10 per beneficiary contact form to $15. And so those are with area agencies on aging throughout the state. On page 21, contract number 14 is the
public defender commission for indigent parent council. This is a contract that was not reviewed so they are amending this contract and now it is being reviewed for the additional portion of that amount from the public defender commission for that program. Number 15, state police for advertising and marketing services for the statewide highway safety media plan for the Arkansas State Police and Highway Safety Office,
and those are all the contracts on today's
Speaker 5
44:13
agenda. All right, members, are there any questions, comments? All right, seeing
Speaker 7
44:22
none, these items will stand as reviewed. Mr. Chairman, the next thing on our agenda
Chair
Unverified
44:28
are the reports on today's agenda, and the first group of reports, These are the contracts with no material change that are being submitted.
That is F1, and then that takes us over to page F2, which these are our executed contracts. These are the contracts for both PCS and TGS that fall below the threshold for review. Then you have F3. This is our continued report from DHS on Medicaid non-emergency transportation services that we're receiving monthly.
And then you also have the F4 report, which is from DHS for the Optum contract for assessments. and those are all the reports on today's agenda. All right, we've got a question. Senator Hammer, are you in seat 80?
Speaker 5
45:28
Yes, sir. Okay, you are recognized for a question, Senator. Could I have DCFS, please? You bet. I've got somebody from DCFS. Senator Hammer, what's the contract number on that?
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
45:46
I'm sorry, I'm on page, well, starting at page 8, item 8. Page 8, item 8,
Speaker 5
45:51
members. All right, if we can get your name and position
Speaker 106
46:01
for the record. Yes, good afternoon. I'm Misha Martin. I'm the Director of Children and Family Services at DHS. And I'm sorry, I'm not
Speaker 109
46:07
sure I'm looking at the right. I didn't hear because I went to page eight. But can you
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
46:13
give me the site again, please? Yes, ma'am. It's dealing with the reduction to the Friendship Community Care Clinic and Second Chance Ranch
and Destin and YouthBridge? Yes, sir. I'm there now. All right.
So can I continue, Mr. Chair? Yes, sir. Thank you. And we've been in private conversations about this, but this is where, you know, it's becoming a reality. With regards to, and this is all part of the Family First that came down from the feds, with regards to alternate means to help these entities, what are we doing to make the adjustments so that kids can continue to be seen that have been seen previously by these groups?
Speaker 109
46:55
Right, and so these particular amendments, either reductions or increases, were based on utilization rate, not specifically related to any new law or new contract. So, for example, like you'll see, Methodist had a significant reduction. They have a contract for a qualified residential treatment program but have chose not to open up a particular home. So the amendments and adjustments for today really are based on utilization, and most are based on the provider's choice whether to increase or to decrease.
Now, as to your question, what are we doing moving forward? So we procured new qualified residential treatment program contracts in July for the providers who did not answer that RFP. there are some pending procurements and i believe i'm in a blackout period so i can't really talk about any of the new but we did notify our vendors that we are in the final stages of procuring the last contracts related to placement between now and july 1st and and the adjustments
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
47:58
were based on like the last year last year numbers or their stated position moving forward what they were going to be or can you clarify that what is currently
Speaker 109
48:09
happening with those providers so if say like for example I'll keep using Methodist if Methodist is not currently taking placements then the contract team said are you planning to take placements in the next few months if not we need to shift to a provider who is taking placements so decrease from one and
increase to a provider who is taking placements related to qualified residential now you mentioned therapeutic foster care a separate contract and that there is one of those in this particular packet for therapeutic foster care we have said to all of our providers if you can recruit families and increase we need more therapeutic foster homes so we will increase contracts for therapeutic foster care and we have budgeted appropriately we are just weighing on the providers to say we have homes we need additional funds in our contract
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
48:59
So you do have the flexibility under the current structure that if the needs shift from what is a snapshot of today to be able to adjust that and to kind of breathe back and forth?
Speaker 109
49:13
For TFC, yes. We had budgeted and hoped for increases in TFC. For qualified residential treatment, we are staying within one large budget and moving around based on utilization of those providers and seeing that that's a brand new contract and went live July 1st,
there was some unknown from both our end and from the provider end about what they're able to take and care for appropriately and how quick they could. Some of the providers are hiring training staff, so it really has been of working with the providers to say, who are you taking, how are you expanding, and then making sure that our funds align appropriately. All right. Thank you. Thank you,
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
49:52
Mr. Chair. Thank you, Senator. All right, members, are there any questions, comments? All right, seeing none, we are adjourned.
Agenda
A. Call to Order - Comments from Chairs
B. Timber Sale – Arkansas Department of Human Services
C. Methods of Finance
D. Discretionary Grants
E. Services Contracts for Legislative Review
F. Reports and Communications
G. Contract Amendment - Renewals/Extensions with No Material Change - Member Requested for Discussion **
H. Other Business
I. Adjournment
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — ALC - REVIEW, Feb 18, 2020 | Agenda | 2 | Official source ↗ |
| B Timber Sale | Exhibit | 10 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
| C MOFs | Exhibit | 5 | Official source ↗ |
| D Grants | Exhibit | 8 | Official source ↗ |
| E Contracts | Exhibit | 22 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
| F1 Previously Reviewed Services | Exhibit | 17 | Official source ↗ |
| F2 Executed Contracts $25,000 - $49,999.99 | Exhibit | 4 | Official source ↗ |
| F3 Medicaid NET Legislative Report - January | Exhibit | 14 | Official source ↗ |
| F4 Optum IA monthly report January 2020 | Exhibit | 6 | Official source ↗ |
| Supplemental Agenda | Exhibit | 14 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
Speaker 5
Chair
Unverified
Speaker 14
Speaker 20
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
Speaker 29
Speaker 30
Speaker 33
Speaker 35
Speaker 37
Speaker 12
Speaker 11
Speaker 49
Speaker 7
Speaker 52
Speaker 2
Speaker 58
Speaker 69
Speaker 73
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Speaker 53
Speaker 38
Representative Jim Dotson
Unverified
Speaker 88
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
Speaker 106
Speaker 109