ALC-Review
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- October 2, 2026
Members and guests if you would find your seats or begin here in just a minute Bring a review subcommittee to order
I have a group here from Black River they faculty and staff leader this is their inaugural first faculty and staff leadership group that is here so I was gonna make you wave your hand but I'm in the chair so you guys stand up thank you guys for being here they are from Pocahontas and Perigulold have campuses on both in both places
you have anything? sir All right. let's get her going. the methods of finance if you
Speaker 10
3:25
would Thank you Mr Chair good afternoon members Katie Walden bureau of Legislative Research Fiscal division as
Speaker 12
3:30
the chair stated the first items for your review today are the methods of finance they're under item B in your packet there are7 for your review today you'll see under item B the letter from DFfaccounting presenting the items for your review and then following that you'll see a summary schedule
I'll review these items for you now the first item is with AU Jonesboro. this is an amendment to an existing method of finance for baseball stadium improvements they're increasing this amount using university reserves to $295,000. Number two is with AU Mountain Home. This is for upgrades to HvaC controls and boiler replacement. This is also a revised MOF increasing the amount up to779,000 dollars using institutional reserves.
The third item is with Black River Technical College this is a new MOF valued at $1.2 million using deferred maintenance reserves and this is for deferred maintenance projects.umber4, Ua Community College at Batesville. This is revising an existing MOF for their farm project gatewayenter it increases the amount up to5.6 million dollars with a combination of funds.umber5 is with UAMs this is for their pet building yclotron equipment program. this is initially
$300,000 usinguaMs revenues and this is for pet equipment for cancer diagnosis and treatment ber 6 on the next page with University of Arkansas pine bluff. This is a new MOF valued at $15 million. they received a grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services and their plan is to build a new allied healthal building. this is one of those projects where you're going to see it throughout our agenda so this is the first time it appears as an MOF you'll see it later on but this is their first initial
contract stating the method of finance how they plan to fund it and what they want to do. They want to build a twostory health facility with a seventeenpa parking lot on their campus. Finally number7 with UCA this is an amendment to an existing contract for their new multipurpose arena. They state that they're increasing this for phase two which is the architectural design services for the multipurpose arena. This is now valued at4.11 million dollars using capital reserves. These are the methods of
Speaker 2
5:49
finance, Mr Chair. any questions on the methods of
finance 1 through7 there's no questions I'll entertain a motion motion
and a second all in favor say aye all opposed like sun thank
you members general contractors construction projects Thank you Mr Chair. Item
Speaker 12
6:20
construction project over5 million dollars this is also with University of Arkansas at pine bluff this type of review is for projects valued over at5 million dollars where institutions or agencies have the ability to negotiate with potential contractors and so they're presenting this project for your review today it is for their allied health andciences building project. they estimate the building will be 22,000 square feet. they received a number a total of 10 proposals
and they interviewed four contractors and the ultimate choice was for the construction to be under East Harding construction and the design professionals AMR architects. This is the alternative delivery method
Speaker 14
7:04
project, Mr Chair. any questions on this alternative delivery project
seeing none entertain motion motion second all in favor sayy aye all opposed like san thank you members discretionary grants
Speaker 17
7:22
thank you Mr Chair. Itemd in your packet
Speaker 10
7:25
are the discretionary grants presented for your review today. There are two agencies with discretionary grants. The first one is Department
Speaker 12
7:32
of Health. they have two grants. The first grant is a new federal grant valued at $11,500 to North Arkansas Regional Medical Center and this is to support designation as a heart attack center from a nationally recognized accreditation body.umber 2 with Department of Health to the Arkansas Community Health Workers association this amends
an existing federal grant to increase by6,000 dollars and this is for training of specialized community health workers in the areas of diabetes prevention, heart disease, stroke prevention and social health determinants. These
Speaker 2
8:06
are the health department discretionary grants. any questions on health
department's discretionary grants seeing none motion on motion by second uhpresentative Laderman all in
favor sayy aye all opposed like sign thank you members
Speaker 10
8:24
discretionary grants number two itemtemd2 or the discretionary grants presented by the department of humanman Services there are5 for your review today the first three are all with providers to assist homeless individuals the agency already has
Speaker 12
8:46
full appropriation authority on these grants. However, they have amended these grants to include the earlier parts of the year
when during the federal shutdown so that they can correct all the grant amounts and dates for these providers to have full funding for the year so again these 1st 3 1,2 and3 are all to just kind of set the calendar dates correctly to allow the providers to receive full funding for the year. and then number4 is with DHS division of agging Adults and Behavioral Health Services. This is amendment 2 to an existing grant federal grant or excuse me other funded grant valued at75,000 dollars. This is to assist the state hospital in
transitioning eligible individuals back into their homes and communities with behavioral health support and number5 with DHS division ofedical Services. This is ammendment2 to an existing6 million dollars grant and it is to extend the subgrant term to support and enabling technology pilot program to enhance services for clients with intellectual disabilities, behavioral health needs, physical disabilities and
Speaker 10
9:50
the elderly. These are the discretionary grants from DHS, Mr Chair.
seeing none except a motion motion and a second by senator or Representativeladyman all in favor sayy aye all opposed like sign thank you members going to services contract and go ahead thank you Mr Chair. Item E are
Speaker 12
10:21
the contracts presented for your review today. The first page of item E is a
letter from the office of state procurement Director Miss Jessica Patterson presenting these contracts for your review today. She also identifies the contracts presented this month that were procured using the traditional RfP method as well as the most advantageous proposal as requested by legislative counsel and finally in this letter she gives an update on their new procurement rules she states that the public comment period for these proposed rule changes ended on March3rd and so now they're integrating and considering the public comments and then the
next step will to will be to come before this subcommittee for review. Next, moving to the request for qualifications there are3 for your review this month and they are found under item E1 The firstrfQ is with the insurance department and this is for medicare beneficiary Services for seniors 2 is with the Department of Arkansas Heritage Central Administration with the Natural Heritage Commission. This RQ is
for prescribed fire management activities on the 83 natural areas in the state And number3 under therfQs are with disability determination for socialcial Securitydministration and this is for a professional medical consultant for disability case processing. These are the three RfQs, Mr. Chair. any questions on
the three RfQs seeing none except a motion motion and a second by Representative Ladyman all in
favor sayy aye all opposed like son thank you members construction related contracts you
Speaker 10
12:07
Mr Chair. Item E2 or the construction related contracts for your review today. The
Speaker 12
12:12
first is with Arkansas State University withhitzel Evans rasco. This is amendment one to an existing contract for oncall architectural services.umber 2 Department of Veterans affairs with the ecologicalignroup. This is ammendment two to an existing contract and this is for design services associated with the ongoing North LittleRocketerans
emetery phase ive expansion project.umber3 University of Arkansas with Cromwell Architects. This is for oncall ar chi t ect ural services and number4 is with the University of Arkansas at pine bluff. This is with AMRarchitects and as you've seen before this is their architectural contract for the new allied healthalth andciences building. These are the construction contracts Mr chairir. any questions on those four
seeing none I'll accept a motion motion and a second all in favor sayy aye all opposed like sign thank you members intergovernmental contracts E3 thank you
Speaker 29
13:14
Mr Chair on page 11 of item E you have E3 the intergovernmental contracts for
Speaker 12
13:19
your review today. The first one is with Department of Commerce, statesurance department with UAMs. This is ammendment5 to an existing contract and this is for services related to data collection and transmission and integration for legislated
Department of Healthformation databases. 2 with DHS DCFs with Arkansas Department of Health. This is to continue the birth, death, marriage and divorce and acknowledgment of paternity certificates issued from the Department of Health's vital records branch as well as the searching of the putative father's registry. 3 d H
Speaker 12
13:56
Services with Ua Fayetteville. This is amendment two to extend
an existing contract for enhancement of home and communitybased programs for medicaid.umber4, Department of Public Safety Division of Arkansas State Police with Uafayetteville. this is amendment one to an existing contract to extend and renew at the statewide observational seat belt survey Number5uva Pulaski Technical College with Arkansasudentloan Authority. This is an original contract and it is for the student loan authority to provide student financial aid related services to Pulaski Tech. These are the
intergovernmental contracts. have a question senator ice # 4
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
14:39
state police state police can you come down
tro du ce yourself and you're recognized the
Speaker 38
15:20
it's a questionrige White DPSgra manager highway safety office. Senators thank you
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
15:30
I know this is a 100% federal. it's a renewal can you tell me is there any new agreements or other
just give us a basis
Speaker 43
15:41
of what this does is this a data collecting
Speaker 38
15:49
this uhd d to determine the seat belt use right for the state of Arkansas
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
15:56
does that vary very much between year
Speaker 38
16:00
to year? it it does not right now our current seatb belt use rate is79% the highest use rate that we've ever had in the state is 84% it went down duringOID and we're now trying to get back to the
highest level that we've ever been which was 84%. and
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
16:25
know there's certain things we have to agree to to get federal dollars maybe in other programs too there are no new things in this one from previous years no sir this is
Speaker 38
16:36
a requirement for every state in the nation to have this seat belt survey conducted. you know it's not something
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
16:44
that'd expect y'all to look into but I wonder how much of this was we we do and it doesn't
change it's it's some minimal what it changes per year could could you yourself the top of your head say what good this is if
Speaker 38
17:05
it's not going change anything well it's a requirement that states try to attain at least the national average for seatb belt use rate and the state of Arkansas is below the national average which is about 90%. So this is proven we're
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
17:23
below national average do they require you to do
Speaker 38
17:28
anything to get your numbers up just implement performance standards with our projects to to try to attain that use right implement projects and countermeasures strategies such as our awareness programs to try to attain that use rate that is consistent with the national average. OK thank you thank you Mr Cha.
we have two in the queue.one for state police we're going topresentativewarddlaw while you're there
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
18:06
thank you Mr Chair. you made the term and I I can read the paper where it says renewal but total projected costs for this $826,000. The renewal looks like it's roughly 118,000 paid to date is 95,000. How long are we going to be renewing this contract?
just a seven year is it a5 years is it a3year? what's the projected and the renewal
Speaker 49
18:34
is an annual correct? yes to renew annually for up to se
years. OK thank you. Representativeladyman do you have it for somebody else one
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
18:51
go ahead yeah number3 somebody else DHS I guess is who that is.dHS
hadn't been down there enough you just
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
19:24
introduce yourself again. Almost sat there and stood melissa Weatherton DHS medicaid specialist populations you recognize the representative? Well my
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
19:35
question is kind of a general thing but what is this program is this for
day programs for waiver or just for studying those programs Representative ladyman are you
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
19:51
on number3?3 yeah thank you sir so this is a pilot through our 9817 funds the money we got around American Rescue Act that came straight from CmS that can only be used to expand or enhance home and communitybased services. so this particular grant with the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville for 10 million. we had we had entered into this grant
previously and we were just going in to extend for Tom because they haven't finished and they still had money remaining Cms will only let us use the money until September30th. so we're going to have a lot of these coming through with the end date of September30th but this particular grant is with Partners for inclusiveunities through University of Arkansasfayetteville and they're doing three things for us they're doing something called
families in transition or the fit ilott which is going into homes of children who are experiencing major life transitions particularly like coming into foster care or being adopted and having very disruptive behaviors so it's an intensive in home program for those children they're also doing a lot of analysis for us around fetal alcohol syndrome and trying to develop specific programs for us for children that have that
diagnosis and then lastly they are going around and training physicians on how to do comprehensive screening so that we can ensure that our children are being tested early and then being tested correctly so they get the right diagnosis so is this only being done in
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
21:40
northwest? I mean is it or or what they learn would that be used statewide or how how's that used? So I don't have the
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
21:48
pilot sites in front of me but it isn't specific piloott sites
across the state but I can get that
Speaker 78
21:55
to you but yeah the lessons learned from this we hope to incorporate against the
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
22:00
entire medicaid population. No that's fine. I just want
to know if it was statewide or regional. thank you. is there any other questions for DHS or those five intergovernmental contracts seeing none will entertain a motion and a second uhpresentativeladydyman all in favor sayy aye all opposed like sign thank you members let's go
to the out of state contracts
Speaker 12
22:27
E4. thank you Mr Chair. Under item E4, that's page 15 of item E. these are the out of state contracts presented for your your review today. The first one is with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission withrenaissance Energy advisors. this is a new original contract for lithium supply chain analysis and this is to allow for a comprehensive s strategic study to see if Arkansas can engage in the lithium battery
industry you'll note that this is a special procurement and so staff has prepared the special procurement justification form. it is the first one in your green packet behind your agenda. this is the documentation provided by ADc explaining the reason for needing the special procurement. ber 2 is with Department of Education with classic learning initiatives. this contract is in response to Act724 of2025, which now requires the Department of Education to offer the classic learning assessment
to students in 9th and 10th grade and 11th grade for free and so they're requesting this contract to allow for the implementation of Act724 it's originally valued at $12 million and it is the second sole source by justification form in your green packet from the department of Education. ber 3 from Department of Education this contract with is with triand incorporated this is amendment 8 to an existing contract and this is for providing student transcripts
and other information services for the department ber 4 with DFA with computronics USA this is a new original contract valued at $2.9 million. This is for implementation as well as licensing of software which is to support regulatory activities for the alcohol beverage control and the tobacco control division. ber 5 Department of Health with catalyst regulatory compliance. This is amendment one to an existing contract and this is to extend the contract
for the operation of the medical marijuana patient portal at the department of Health.umber6 Department of Health with the gelroup Incorporated. this is a new original contract for drinking water analysis as required by the safe Wa Drinking Act.umber7 with DHS with computer aid incorporated. this is amendment4 to an existing contract to continue to mainca maintain the Arkansas workforce integrated Networkystem the workforceucation alignmentystem workun tax credit and other modules currently in production.
ber 8 is with DHS with Myers and Stoufferlc this is amendment ive to an existing contract and this is for support for supplemental payments for hospitals, nursing homes, intermediate care facilities, qualified health centers and any other emer emerging providers statewide number 9 DHS division of agging anddults and Behavioral Health Services with atTA services. This is amendment 8 to an existing contract and this is to provide skilled nursing staff for the Arkansas State Hospital.umber 10 DHS Division
of Aaging Adults and Behavioral Health with Carassoft Technology Corp. This is for financial and clinical archives for the state hospital electronic healthal recordsystem. ber 11 with DHS is with healthalthcare Servicesroup. This is amendment one to an existing contract for food services for the state hospital and number 12 with DhS division division of agging Adults and Behavioral healthalth with Linnoning. This is for laundry services for the state hospital. Number 13 with Memphis
paththology laborboratory. This is ammendment5 to an existing contract for laboratory diagnostic testing services at the state hospital. Number 14 DHS with Redriver Pharmacy long termm carere. this is amendment one to an existing contract to extend and add funding for pharmacy services at the Arkansas Health Center and for DYS clientsumber 15 DhS with SHC services this contract is amendment ive for skilled nursing and other medical personnel at the Arkansas Health Center and other agency facilities.
Number 16 with DHS with conduit state and local solutions this is amendment two to an existing contract to increase the amount and this is to provide for the 2026 summer EBT funding as well as as part of the statewide EBT services for snap benefits.umber 17dHS division of County Operations with Health Manageystems this is to revise the rate sheet for medicaid
Speaker 10
27:04
asset verification system number 18dHSddS with Samaritan integrative Llc
Speaker 12
27:10
this is for psychiatric services with the southeast Arkansas Human Development Center.umber 19 DHS Division of Medical Services with Optum Government Solutions this is to continue management of the independent assessment and support programme. ber 20 Department of Public Safety division of Arkansas State Police Part D advisors this is ammendment65 to an existing contract and this is for medicare Part D and retiree subsidy services for the state police.umber 21 Department of sharered Administrative Services
with Kaassoft Technology Group. This is for the conducting a statewide skills assessment for information technology personnel. number 22, Department of sharered Administrative Services with Deloitte Consulting. This is a new original contract for3.3 million dollars and this is for the office of personnel Management to contract to purchase implementation services for SuccessFactctor performance and goals manage compensation management and career development planning modules. Number 23 Department of Transformation and sharered
Services DIS with Carassoft. This is to conduct a statewide information technology applications assessmentumber 24 also with Carassoft this is also a new original contract and it is for the purchase of software and services needed to implement proven optics billing and IT cost recovery services. Number 25 with the Department of Veterans affairs with expresservices. this is a new original contract and it is for skilled nurses in the Fafayetteville and North LittleRock facilities of eterans
affairs.umber 26, Department of Veterans Affairs was superperior linenn Services. This is for laundry services it's ammendment one to an existing contract.umber 27 University of Arkansas with Dell Marketing. This is a new original contract for implementation, design and migration to the NsxTvi. ber 28 University of Arkansas with Huron Consulting this is for IT assessment services and it is amending increasing and extending an existing contract for IT assessment and support. Number 29 University of Arkansas
with the Seegalroup this is amendment two to an existing contract and it is for consulting services related to all university benefits programs including health, paid leave, insurance brokerage, benefit plans, audit solutions, administration and technology. and number30 with the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith with AGBearch. This is a new original contract and is for executive searchch consulting services for their college of businessiness as well as their engineering
college and then a professor of computer scienceence. These are the out of state contracts,
Mr Chair. you coach chair. you got one on the veterans affairs anybody with a veteran's affairs
Speaker 87
30:18
just introduce yourself and good afternoonir Wayne Ruth and chief of staff department
Speaker 88
30:27
of Veterans a Stevie Smith, CFO Department of Veterans affairs
thank you Mrir. thank you gentlemen for being here how much it seems like each month we have several contracts of of contract nursing which you know contract nursing is quite a bit expensive so can you tell me how much we've spent if if not now give me a
rough estimate and also is there a different way that we can do to get nurses you know into our VA system without having to
Speaker 93
30:57
always do contract nursing and paying3 to45x the amount
Speaker 87
31:02
it's a good question sir thank you for asking first of all we we absolutely want to employ only state employees in our nursing and direct care facilities but obviously that's not possible
over the years we run in the mid thirtiess to mid40% state employee rate in a direct care every year that varies but not a great deal obviouslybviously we make up the difference with contract agency direct care personnel we're doing everything we can I can tell you that right now our registered nurses and LPns are under a special compensation
award program where they can obtain5,000 dollars extra a year for as a recruiting tool and a retention tool they get half and half we're tomorrow we're going before the personnel committee requesting a similar program for ourc andAs smaller amount of money but same thing half upfront half after you've been with us for a while for attention those programs as well as the pay plan increases in the actual salary that took place last July
have increased our state employee rate slowly it's going up this this particular firm today is just another effort on our part to find another vendor who might give us a better contract cost for direct kill personnel so those are the types of things that we're doing it's an it's an uphill battle there's no question about it we compete with the private sector as well as other state agencies for nursing personnel and so we're hopeful that those types
of programs the pay plan etc. will help us over time get to our gold which would be 100% state direct care personnel well count me
as a partner in in moving forward if you
guys need a different avenue count me in that because I like to see that contract nursing part go down because we can spend that kind of money somewhere else and and do just as good so thank you thank you Mr
chair. so did I hear you right that your approximately70% contract
Speaker 94
33:27
yes sir well I would say it's a little bit slower than that but we
Speaker 87
33:32
have been as high as70% contract at some points in the past we run in the in the high th30s to low40% state employee rate direct care.
in our two facilities all right thank you gentlemen is there any other questions for these guys no thank you very much
Speaker 102
33:57
Representative ladyman department of commerce number one item one Introduce yourself and you're recognized for the question
Speaker 103
34:28
good afternoon Alllison Hatfield chief of
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
34:31
staff of commerce to push your button and do that again. F fred Lewis director of strategic initiatives AEdC. thank y'all for being here I just had a
question about this is about the lithium play and what what outcomes do we expect this is a new contract, right? doesn't have a date on here' expiration it's it's a
Speaker 108
35:00
it's a continuation it's a specific work continuation with the same two consultants who completeds original work on the lithium strategic analysis and Q4 of2024. and with all the changes that have gone on this is to help us focus on those changes and what we need to do differently going well that answers one of my questions why
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
35:20
why are we doing this now and why didn't we do it in the past so you're already doing that so that's good
but I mean what what kind of it talks
about monitoring national lithium plays what outcomes or what do we expect to get
from the these consultants what what are the goals that we want them to do just a
Speaker 103
35:42
little bit more follow up is that we had hired a group earlier, I mean, I guess 18 months ago or so to do this work and the individuals that were performing the work left that firm as they were working for Arkansas and started their own business and so part of this is just a continuation with those
two individuals that's why it's a new contract but it is kind of a midpoint on the project they were already doing the work on
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
36:11
for us. So we are we looking at how we compete with other states and what
Speaker 115
36:15
the cost of implementation who the players are is that what you're looking at what we
Speaker 108
36:20
should focus on in terms of the upstream midstream what companies we should focus on what products we should focus on cathodes anodes where the market best plays with our strengths help with any additional
Speaker 117
36:32
incentives we think we need down the road depending on what the market dictates etc. these guys are pretty senior in nature have a national scope and contexts etc that can help us I think build our lithium business in southwest Arkansas
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
36:48
one more Mrimireri what how is the lithium market? Is it what we expect is it getting stronger weaker based on this information price price today
Speaker 108
36:57
I think it was 23,000 a ton a year ago it was 10,000 a ton so it's
Speaker 117
37:04
it's getting better. we still need to break down break ground in southwest Arkansas we still think that's gonna take place this year standard lithium and their consortium just signed a an outsourcing contract to sell I think it was6000 tons a year for 10 years that'll help them paint the picture and the story to help them get financing as well so I do think it's around the corner and I know that's probably even been said a lot. it's around the corner but I think the momentum's there
thank you any other questions on this seeing none thank you guys for coming down Senator Rri number 22 shared services someone with shared services here
introduce yourselves and you're recognized for the
Speaker 126
38:18
question senator. Yes sir. Ka barnhill department of shared administrative Services
Speaker 127
38:24
Courtney Trayor chief of staff shared administrativeervices can you give
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
38:35
me a brief description what we're getting this is a new
contract one time correct? Yes sir.
what we're getting for33 million dollars how that will be assessed and what kind of timeline success will be determined in
Speaker 132
38:56
yes sir as you know asparhanna is going live in July and the current performance evaluation system will not be supported in the S4hana system. so what we're doing here is going to success factors to help us get a performance and compensation system the first part of what we were doing was pay plan this is kind of the final act of the pay plan this
will help us to evaluate all our employees on an electronic basis it will encourage conversation throughout the rating period with employees right now. Employees just generally meet once a once at the end of the year to discuss their performances is a system that encourages discussions throughout the writing period we have to start it now because we need to have this in place in January of 27 so that we can
Speaker 133
39:44
use it for the 2027 performance evaluation results
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
39:53
what kind of timeline do you think it will take to know if the system's doing what you are saying it's going to do
Speaker 132
40:01
well the first evaluation will take place probably in May of 27 so we can see what those results are at that particular time that would
Speaker 133
40:09
be the first time we'd have an indication of how the system is actually working
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
40:15
and and umm I'm just I'm more skeptical the older I get the longer I'm down here so I appreciate your public statement what you're expecting
and hopefully you'll report back to us if it's not living up to your your expectations yes
sir we will. Thank you. thank you Mr Cha. Is there any questions
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
40:42
on this p re s ent ative Bolaw this morning we went through the playpa play pay plan performance funds and how those are being distributed through the appropriation process Yes sir I didn't see you in the room but was I'm gonna ask you this
question it's my understanding you guys have centralized hiring now that you're doing most of the hiring over at your office for DHS is that correct? Yes sir. in January how many people have you hired since you took over that process for the human development centers
I don't know since the beginning of the process after
Speaker 132
41:12
the meeting this morning I went went back to see how many we hired last week and that was53 for the human development centers that wasddS yes sir how many people does it take a week to keep the human development centers up to staff.
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
41:28
you're doing the hiring for them now correct sir so you should know that so how many people does it take with the current turnover rate in a week's time to keep them up to par on a hiring basis. It's53 it is75 it iss
85 it it's 90. how many people? I really can't answer that question directly
Speaker 132
41:47
Mr. Wardlaw because we've just started doing this in January so the numbers have varied during the various it three months right? Well no about six weeks. OK.
Speaker 145
42:02
right well can you get that information back to
Speaker 146
42:10
staff? yes sir, I'll be happy to Representative ladyman is it on
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
42:14
this you're recognized thank you Mr Chairman. Yeah to piggyback on whatpresentative Wardlaw was talking about y'all heard the conversation this morning we know don't know how many people here I get a lot of emails and I know a lot of other people do we know that there's a problem that we didn't have last year. I
mean turnover is always a big problem there but it's worse now and well my question is how long does it take once there's a request made to hire a person how long does it take before that decision's made here's the
Speaker 132
42:51
processes it works today a department will let us know they're trying to fill a position we would advertise that position for5 days Once we have looked through all those minimum qu all the candidates to assess
their minimum qualifications we send those back to the department at that point the department does the interviews and actually makes the selection once they've made the selection it comes back to us and that's when we do the I9 verification and some of the other parts of the process what we have established is a deadline on Tuesday before the following Monday if we had all that information by Tuesday for the following Monday we will have all those people on boarded for that particular date. Now there's some departments that
still think we can only start employees at the beginning of a pay period that's not really the case we can start an employee any day during the pay period. So we're trying to make that point to the department so they know they don't need to hold them for two more weeks before we can actually put
Speaker 112
43:49
them on payroll so you just said6 days is
Speaker 132
43:52
what you said well it's advertised for five days then it goes to the department it's however long the department takes to make their selection process because
Speaker 133
43:58
they select the applicant we have nothing to do with the selection process or just processing that after the fact
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
44:05
so has the time to hire employees is it longer now with your process than it was prior? I don't think it
Speaker 132
44:17
is that has been proven to be true but I can check and get some statistics and let you know for sure
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
44:24
and aspresentative Wardlaw said do you consider the turnover rate I mean you know if if the turnover rate is a month I mean again if you're if you're hiring
a person and I'm not saying accountants and IT people are not important but but at HDCs if nobody's there they they can't eat. Right I understand that you know they can't go to the bathroom they can't walk. they can't go I mean it's not there's not there's a a time there that they need to be filled within a certain time period and if
Speaker 139
44:58
we know as soon as we can we will start that process right off the bat
Speaker 132
45:03
bat in fact we have a process called evergreen where that position can constantly be advertised so somebody was to
leave they could immediately go down the list and maybe pick up the next one. That is something we're working with the departments to make sure they understand that that's an availability as well to address the situations you're describing
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
45:21
so this problem we all hear about you you think that's going
Speaker 132
45:24
to get better? Yes sir. I feel confident that it will get better. Soon?
Yes sir. yes sir SenatorRass is it for them all right you're recognized. Thank you and
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
45:40
I'm not known to peer committee this round but I did watch it live stream this morning and I'm not holding you accountable for that but you know I've got confidence in you from your expertise and how long you've been doing this so what I wanted to talk to the screen until this morning you're always gonna have turnover and and then in the environment of employees today I understand that but the one thing I wanted to talk back into the screen with y'all while they were talking about this this morning
I could I could contact one person, I'll bet you it every human development center in and get them aside in private and say tell me what's going on here because it's not always money. sometimes it is it's work environment it's certain pressure I thought about could it be this we're seeing these lawsuits hit for because somebody died it it happens yet people can't
take care of them at home but they want to say you know y'all didn't take care of them the way we thought you should have all these factors play in but I still think you could go to one person every one of those and find out is this new system you just told me where they could put
in are these people these employees gonna feel like putting in the truth and tell you what would fix the problem I don't think they
are because I think it it jeopardizes their employment
but what I would ask for and and you'd tell DHS and I'll tell them on my own somebodydy needs to get their finger on this turnover high turnover and say what can we do we we think we fixed the pay pretty much never gonna be perfect but there's problems there somewhere that somebody needs to get a hold of and I think you can slow some of this down and that's not again that's not at you you're dealing with the process but I wish you could pass that along and I'll try to
too. sir thank you thank you Mr Chair. is there any other questions seeing none any questions on the30?
any other questions seeing none I'll entertain a motion to accept these out of state contracts motion second bypresentativeladydyman all in favor sayy aye all opposed like sign thank you members let's go to the instate contracts E5
Speaker 12
48:18
thank you Mr Chair. Page 28 of your e packet or the instate contracts for your review this month. The first one with AU was pulled by the agency prior to this meeting and they asked to pull this item to make a correction and they stated that they will bring it back next month. so beginning with review of number two we have another contract from Arkansas State University. This contract is a new sole source by justification contract with podcast videoos.com ll ll c This is a new original
contract valued originally at314,000 dollars and this is for marketing services for the university and I'll also mention this is your third and final sole source by justification form in your green packet for today.umber3 Department of Corrections division of Community Corrections within his wings ministry. this is amendment6 to an existing contract for reentry services. this is for an eighteenbed female reentry facility located in Jonesboro ber 4 Department of Education
with Management Services foration data this is for a migrant education database extension. This is ammendment2 to an already existing contract.umber5 Department of Education with umbrellacurity Solus this is for armed security services for Arkansas school for the deaf and blind. It is extending an existing contract. ber6 Department of Health with 21 CJS janitorial Services. This is for janitor services at the department of healthalthumber7 DHSdivision of agging Adults and
Behavioral Health with Arkansas healthalthcare personnel incorporated. This is a contract for skilled nursing and other medical personnel at the Arkansas State Hospital and other agency facilities. Number 8 DHS division of agging Adults and Behavioral Health with Arkansas healthalthcare personnel. This is also for skilled nursing at the Arkansas Health Center and other agency facilities ber 9 DHS with Kidource incorporated. This is for physical and occupational therapy services for clients at this Arkansas state hospitalspital.umber 10 DhS with
Washita Regional counseling and mental healthalth. This is ammendment one to an existing contract for therapeutic counseling services for persons without insurance or another payer source. Number 11dhSdCfS with Charles Hoskin PLC This is for legal representation for DCfS clients statewide.umber 12d H S d C f S with harbor house incorporated a Fort Smith. This is to provide substance abuse treatment services for DCfS clients.umber 13 DHSdCfS with
secureoundation counseling this is for counseling services fordCfs clientsumber 14 DHSdCfS with wind counseling. This is for home studies for foster adoptive interstateact on placement of children and courtordered families within the system ber 15 DHS division of county operations with Arkansas Hunger Relief alliance. This is amendment4 to an existing contract to increase funding for the nutritionation to supplemental nutrition
assistance programme recipients.umber 16 DHSdDS with april eak. This is for speech therapy services for the southeast Arkansas HDC number 17 DHSddS witherreRoss. This is for dental services with the Arkadelphia Human Development Center.umber 18 DhSdDS with Howard's site consulting. This is for psychology services at the southeast Arkansas Human Development Center.umber 19 DhSdDS with Marsh George Cclinic Ppa This is physician services at Southeast Arkansas Human
Development Center, number 20 Department of Public Safety, Arkansas State Police with central flying Service. this is a new original contract and it's for aircraft inspection and maintenance on the state police airplane number 21 Department of Military with prolean janitorial Service. This is a new original contract for janitorial services for the 188th military base in Fort Smith.umber 22 Department of Military with wasste Management. This is for waste disposal service at the department of Military number 23 Department of
Veterans Affairs with Kenneth Zimmerman for pest control services. This is ammendment3 to an existing contract.umber 24 University of Arkansas with dynamic integrated security. This is for armed and unarmed security guard services at Garvin Woodland Gard ens in Garland County. Number 25 University of Arkansasedical wasste Services. This is for pickup and disposal of medical waste for the U ofAfayetteville, ammendment one to an existing contract and number 26 University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College with four seasona service. This is for HvaC maintenance and repair
services across the Pulaski technical collegelege campus. These are the out of state contracts
Mr Chair. Representative Wardlaw which
Speaker 64
53:04
one of the 25 Department of Education Department of Education there they come
introduce yourself and you're recognized for the question representative Courtney Salisford Department of
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
53:44
Education. g re g rogers department of Education thank you chair so I see
total projected735,000 and then total after review 1.4 million. can you
explain to me the the disparity between those two first and then I'll ask my other question
Sorry trying to get through all the contracts
Speaker 167
54:32
here I understand I just got a3 o'clock in Lone Oak so
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
54:35
Can you repeat the first part of your question again please. I'm sorry. So when you look at number5 shows
total a review 1.4 million and change total projected which means it's not supposed to go over that mouth it's735,000. can you explain to me the disparency between the two
Speaker 175
54:56
I don't say there's735 the total that we're projecting updated at some point I'll
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
54:59
just go ahead and get to the point whatever y'all seem to want to not answer me, which is nothing new at what point do we rebid a contract? So do we rebuild a contract when it's double the original projected or do we rebuild a contract under amendment 20 or amendment 8 or amendment4 or do we just let the amendments pile up and we just keep paying the bill because we like the contractor it's a seven year contract. I
Speaker 177
55:26
understand. so why is it twice the total projected fee back to
Speaker 178
55:33
the original question so when we added the the security contract for the barn and deaf school. This is we took over what was a previous
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
55:43
one and kind of figured you're gonna say that so ammendment5 which was one
amendment ago we added the school of the deaf and blind and it was678,000 at that point. We added300,000 to it
so now we're at amendment six that's still in addition under amendment six total pay now is a million so now we're 250,270,000 over the total projected I don't I don't know if I'm understanding where the total
Speaker 178
56:15
projected that we have is3 million dollars and we're adding another year to it projected on our paper right here in front of
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
56:23
me is735,000 dollars. and nowhere says3 million or I wouldn't ask these questions
Speaker 146
56:33
what he's looking at so let me get Katty to Representative
Speaker 182
56:42
Wardlaw, I think the total projected was captured when the initial contract was reviewed so
Speaker 12
56:47
when it was originally 100,000 at that point in time they did the math out that if they continued it all the way through7 years it would ultimately be735. so that information has not been updated so let's go back let's talk about a history
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
57:00
of what I've done since I've been here I
wrote most of these procurement laws back in 2017 and we said then that your total projected had to include what you think it's going to cost for the life of the contract that way we could do away with these 100 million amendments that these agencies bring to us and pick their own contractor to stay in there forever this fits that definition to a tea there's two on the agenda today. I haven't got to the second one yet but this is the first one and it's double the total
projected cost already and I just want to know why if it's totally adding the school of the blind and deaf and maybe I can understand it if we have a projected new cost to what that's going to cost through the rest of this life or this contract but we seem to not be able to get that answer yeah, I don't know
Speaker 178
57:54
why the735s on there but yes it was to add the blond school for the blind and deaf on there which that's why on the contract that I was looking at that's why I was accused because we are showing a total projected cost of3.2
million dollars on this contract because we added school for the blind and deaf. before it was just for the Capitol mall area but though we've added the school for the deaf and blind which was one of the membership was done on here. Mr Chair, can
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
58:16
I make a motion to hold this contract till Friday. I'll let it go Friday if they can give me all the information but I'd like to collect
more information before Friday. That's appropriate motion we will do that whenever it's time thank you all'll
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
58:29
yield to any other members but I do have a question on another contract at the proper time senator Rri
do you have it on this you got additional on this from the representative wardlaw
Speaker 14
58:47
you guys are dismissed senator Rice which one is it? it's number 20 on
Speaker 186
58:55
Department of Public Safety department of public safety
Speaker 35
59:19
Introduce yourself and you're recognized for the question senator
Speaker 187
59:23
sergeant coreyRay with the airport unit.
Speaker 119
59:31
Charles Weman director of maintenance for airport. afternoon gentlemen. glad to have you here familiar with annuals
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
59:37
and and maintenance and expense on aircraft can you give me approximately what the number of hours flown on that aircraft in 2025.
Speaker 190
59:49
I don't have that in front of me this year's been a pretty low year considering I know in the past we've flown about 90 hours a year but
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
1:00:00
I would say we're substantially lower than that this year OK is there a annual cost analysis or anything who who would do that to say I know we've had this discussion over the years, on there what it costs to to maintain aircraft versus charter flights or whatever else I know it's when it's a designated
owned plane you can jump in it and go but I'm wondering about our cost efficiency here if we're we're down around with 90's not not a small amount but the cost of aircraft maintenance per year have you done analysis on that or who who in the department would do that so we have done some with legis the auditors last year
Speaker 190
1:00:41
we we came up with kind of a cost per hour with per aircraft. I don't have it broke down on the actual maintenance spent in the last few years but I can get that to you
Speaker 189
1:00:56
is is is there been any big maintenance in the last five years so last year we had landing gear and props overhauled so it was
Speaker 190
1:01:03
a pretty substantial annual last year and with this year you're looking at an engine hot section so that's why the number's so high Both engines or just one engines engines and you know this is a 20 year
Speaker 189
1:01:15
airplane 20 year old airplane and this is the first time we're doing this at 1800 hours you know years' scare some people but airplane that didn't
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
1:01:22
didn't didn't mean anything for people that think it does it's as long as it's maintained
OK that that's just what I want was curious about is if if and who does that that analysis to report to the director of public safety we have it I can get it to you
Speaker 198
1:01:38
but do you do you give it to him automatically. We give a yearly report on kind of what we've spent yeah Id you know go in a lot of trouble but I
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
1:01:47
I'd appreciate if you got some data I'd like to look at it absolutely thank you thank you Mr chair Representative Wardlaw
uhdHS this time DHS Introduce yourself again andpresentative Wardlaw you're recognized for the question Melissa Weatherton DHs medicaid
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
1:02:30
specialtyulationss of course due to come to the table a lot todayn't you you have so let's talk about number 8. The Arkansas healthalthcare personnel incorporated so if I read this correctly we've been in this contract since 2024. total projected and we got in was6.4 million and change after review and I'm guessing that's today it'd be at 8.6 so we're looking to increase the total projected cost roughly $2.2 million is that correct?
Speaker 202
1:03:07
Jay Hill division of agging Adult Services with DHS yespresentative we're the the total projected cost is projected to increase it is a reduction this year over the previous two years on the staffing contract the way this wass way these work we have more than one agency that does provide supplemental staff to the facility when one agency is able to provide more shifts than another very often we'll augment those or adjust those costs we may de
obligate when contract we may reduce spend your agency I understand when
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
1:03:41
your agency set the total projected was that set over a seven year period or a one year period that was a seven year period yes sir so we're already over it within the first two years. We haven't even made it to the twoyear mark yet. we're about 18 months, correct that's correct sir. So if we're over that at this point what's it going to look like at year6? And at what point do we go back to bid to make sure we're getting the best deal for taxpayers
it's it's back to the original questions I had for department of edd. and the funny thing about the department of ed contract
Speaker 168
1:04:16
it's only a year old and we're already over the seven year projected cost
Speaker 202
1:04:35
When we do add the money add funding to these contracts represented very often what we
do is pull money from other staffing contracts so while it does reflect the total projected increase for one particular staffing agency for one contract so what I need you
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
1:04:49
to do is get staffed all your staffing contracts where you're at with all of them.mail that all in to staff and get that to us and I'll make
the motion to hold this one till Friday as well we can do that for you sir
Speaker 41
1:05:05
thank you Alletpresentative painter thank you Mr Chair. question
I gonna ask the same question like did with the VA you know these two contracts alone what we pay to date is around $12 million for contract nursing how much out if you can get us to staff how much year to date have you paid for contracts nursing and then two is how how what are those positions how much are your staff so like VA said60 to70% of their is contract. I'd like to know that too as well. we'll get you that for all of our facilities all7.
Speaker 14
1:05:41
great thank you is there any other questions seeing none you're you're dismissed you
thank you I'll make his motion Representative Painner, you're recognized for motion I'mn make the motion to hold contracts7 and 8 until Friday heard that motion entertain a
second second bypresentative Ferguson. all in favor say aye aye all opposed like sign right so
we need to expunge that vote make the motion to expunge the votepresentative painter second bypresentative Ferguson all in favor sayy aye aye all
all opposed like sign all right we need to amend that motion the
motion for5,7 and 8. contracts to be held we're at
motion to to hold 57 and 8 2nd by Representative Ferguson all in favor sayy aye all opposed likean thank you members we will go on to
So I'll I'll entertain a motion to adopt all the others motion by Representative Painner second bypresentative Ferguson all in favor sayy aye all opposed like sign thank you
members let's go go on to the reports services contracts with amendments Thank you Mister Chair. submitted
Speaker 12
1:07:39
for the information of the subcommittee we have three
reports for your rev for your information this month.umber one is service contract amendments without a material change 2 executed contracts number3 critical emergency procurements which were procured on an emergency basis. These are the reports Mr Chair.
any question on the reports seeing none those will be
reviewed is there any other business to come before the committee seeing none we are adjourned
Agenda
A. Call to Order - Comments from Chairs
B. Methods of Finance
C. General Contractors Construction Projects exceeding Five Million Dollars
D. Discretionary Grants
E. Services Contracts for Legislative Review/RFQ Approvals
F. Reports and Communications
G. Other Business
H. Adjournment
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — ALC - REVIEW, Mar 17, 2026 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
| B. MOFs | Exhibit | 3 | Official source ↗ |
| C. General Contractors Construction Projects exceeding Five Million Dollars | Exhibit | 1 | Official source ↗ |
| D. Grants | Exhibit | 3 | Official source ↗ |
| E. Contracts | Exhibit | 37 | Official source ↗ |
| F1. Services Contract Amendments Without a Material Change Report | Exhibit | 18 | Official source ↗ |
| F2. Executed Contracts Report | Exhibit | 7 | Official source ↗ |
| F3. Critical Emergency Procurement Report | Exhibit | 2 needs OCR | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Representative Stetson Painter Chair
Unverified
Speaker 10
Speaker 12
Speaker 2
Speaker 14
Speaker 17
Speaker 29
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
Speaker 38
Speaker 43
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
Speaker 49
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
Speaker 78
Speaker 87
Speaker 88
Speaker 93
Speaker 94
Speaker 102
Speaker 103
Speaker 108
Speaker 115
Speaker 117
Speaker 126
Speaker 127
Speaker 132
Speaker 133
Speaker 145
Speaker 146
Speaker 112
Speaker 139
Speaker 64
Speaker 167
Speaker 175
Speaker 177
Speaker 178
Speaker 182
Speaker 186
Speaker 35
Speaker 187
Speaker 119
Speaker 190
Speaker 189
Speaker 198
Speaker 202
Speaker 168
Speaker 41