ALC-Review
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- October 5, 2026
Unknown speaker
0:00
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Members and guests, if you would, find your seats. We'll begin here in just a minute.
bring a review subcommittee to order I have a group here from Black River their 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 chair, so you guys stand up. Thank you guys for being here. They are from Pocahontas and
Paragool. They have campuses in both places. Do you have anything? All right, let's get going uh the methods of finance if you would thank you mr chair good afternoon members
Speaker 10
3:20
katie walden bureau of legislative research fiscal division as the chair stated the first
Speaker 12
3:25
items for your review today are the methods of finance they're under item b in your packet there are seven for your review today you'll see under item b the letter from dfa accounting 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 ASU 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 ASU Mountain Home. This is for upgrades to HVAC controls and boiler replacement. This is also a revised MOF, increasing the amount up to $779,000 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. Number four, UA Community College at Batesville. This is revising an existing MOF for their Farm Project Gateway Center. It increases the amount up to $5.6 million with a combination of funds. Number five is with UAMS. This is for their pet building cyclotron equipment program. This is initially $300,000 using UAMS revenues, and this is for pet equipment for cancer diagnosis and
treatment. Number six 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 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and their plan is to build a new allied health 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 two-story health facility
with a 17-space parking lot on their campus. Finally, number seven with UCA, this is an amendment to an existing contract for their new multi-purpose arena they state that they're increasing this for phase two which is the architectural design services for the multi-purpose arena this is now valued at 4.1 million dollars using capital reserves these are the methods of finance mr chair is
Speaker 2
5:47
any questions on the methods of finance one through seven
there's no questions uh i'll entertain a motion motion and a second
uh all in favor say aye all opposed like sign thank you members uh
general contractors construction projects five million thank you mr chair item c is
Speaker 10
6:12
your alternative delivery method construction project over five million dollars
Speaker 12
6:15
this is also with university of arkansas pine bluff this type of review is for projects valued over at five 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 and sciences 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 professional is amr architects this is the alternative delivery method project mr
Speaker 14
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chair any questions on this alternative delivery project
seeing none entertain motion motion second all in favor say aye all opposed like sign thank you members discretionary grants thank you
Speaker 10
7:20
discretionary grants presented for your review today. There are two agencies with discretionary grants. The first one is Department of Health.
Speaker 12
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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. Number two with Department of Health to the Arkansas Community Health Workers Association. This amends an existing federal grant to increase by $6,000, 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 are the Health Department
Speaker 2
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discretionary grants. Any questions on the Health Department's discretionary grants?
Seeing none, motion by second by Representative Laideman. All in favor say aye
all opposed like son. Thank you members discretionary grants number two Item D2 or the discretionary
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grants presented by the Department of Human Services. There are five for your review today The first three are all with providers To assist homeless individuals
The agency already has full appropriation authority
Speaker 12
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on these grants. However, they have amended these grants to include the earlier parts of the year 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 first three, one, two, and three, are all to just kind of set the calendar dates correctly to allow the providers to receive full funding for the year. And then number four is with DHS, Division of Aging Adults and Behavioral Health Services.
This is Amendment 2 to an existing grant, federal grant, or excuse me, other funded grant valued at $75,000. This is to assist a state hospital in transitioning eligible individuals back into their homes and communities with behavioral health support. And number five, with DHS, Division of Medical Services. This is Amendment 2 to an existing $6 million grant, and it is to extend the sub-grant term to support an enabling technology pilot program to enhance services for clients with intellectual disabilities,
Speaker 10
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behavioral health needs, physical disabilities, and the elderly.
These are the discretionary grants from
5 under D2? Seeing none, I'll accept a motion. Motion and a second by Representative Leitman. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, like sign. Thank you, members. Go on to services contract. Go ahead. Thank you,
Speaker 12
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Mr. Chair. Item E are the contracts presented for your review today.
The first page of item E is a letter from the Office of State Procurement Director, Ms. 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 council. 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 March 3rd, and so now they're integrating and considering the public comments, and then the next step will be to come before this subcommittee for review.
Next, moving to the request for qualifications, there are three for your review this month, and they are found under item E1. The first RFQ is with the insurance department, and this is for Medicare beneficiary services for seniors. Number two is with the Department of Arkansas Heritage Central Administration with the Natural Heritage Commission. This RFQ is for prescribed fire management activities on the 83 natural areas in the state.
And number three under the RFQs are with disability determination for Social Security Administration, and this is for a professional medical consultant for disability case processing. These are the three RFQs, Mr. Chair.
Any question on the three RFQs? Seeing none, I accept a motion. Motion and a second by Representative Ledeman. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, like son. Thank you, members. Construction-related contracts.
Speaker 10
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Thank you, Mr. Chair. Item E2 are the construction-related contracts for your review today.
Speaker 12
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The first is with Arkansas State University with Witzel Evans-Rasco. This is Amendment 1 to an existing contract for on-call architectural services. Number 2, Department of Veterans Affairs with the Ecological Design Group. This is Amendment 2 to an existing contract. And this is for design services associated with the ongoing North Little Rock Veterans Cemetery Phase 5 expansion project. Number three, University of Arkansas with Cromwell Architects. This is for on-call architectural services.
And number four is with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. This is with AMR Architects. And as you've seen before, this is their architectural contract for the new Allied Health and Sciences Building. These are the
construction contracts, Mr. Chair. Any questions on those four? seeing none
I'll accept a motion motion and a second all in favor say aye all opposed like sign thank you members intergovernmental contracts e3 thank you mr.
Speaker 29
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chair on page 11 of item e you
have e3 the intergovernmental contracts for
Speaker 12
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your review today the first one is with Department of Commerce, State Insurance Department with UAMS. This is Amendment 5 to an existing contract and this is for services related to data collection and transmission and integration for legislated Department of Health information databases. Number two with DHS, DCFS with Arkansas Department of Health. This is to continue the birth, death, marriage, and divorce and acknowledgement of paternity certificates issued from the Department of Health's vital records branch as well as
the searching of the putative father's registry.
Speaker 12
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Developmental Disability Services with UA Fayetteville. This is amendment two to extend an existing contract for enhancement of home and community-based programs for Medicaid. Number four, Department of Public Safety, Division of Arkansas State Police with UA Fayetteville. This is amendment one to an existing contract to extend and renew the statewide observational seat belt survey. Number five, U of A, Pulaski Technical College with Arkansas Student Loan Authority.
This is an original contract, and it is for the Student Loan Authority to provide student
Speaker 19
14:25
financial aid-related services to Pulaski Tech. These are the
intergovernmental contracts. I have a question, Senator Rice.
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
14:34
Number four, State Police. State Police, can
you come down? Just introduce yourself, and you'll recognize the question.
Speaker 38
15:15
Richard white DPS program manager highway safety office Senator rice, thank
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
15:25
you. I know this is a hundred percent federal. It's a renewal. Can you tell me is there any?
new agreements or Other you
Speaker 43
15:36
just give us a basis what this does is this a data collecting? Yes,
Speaker 38
15:44
sir This collects data to determine the seatbelt use rate for the state of Arkansas.
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
15:51
Okay. Does that vary very much between year
Speaker 38
15:55
to year? It does not. Right now our current seatbelt use rate is 79%. The highest use rate that we've ever had in the state is 84%. uh it went down during covid and we're now trying to get back to the highest level that we've ever been which was 84 percent and i know there's
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
16:20
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
16:31
a requirement uh for every state in the nation to have this seat belt survey conducted hey i think you know
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
16:39
it's not something i'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 just off the top of your head say what good this is if it's not going to change
Speaker 38
16:59
anything well it's a requirement uh that states try to attain at least the national average for seatbelt use rate, and the state of Arkansas is below the national average, which is about 90 percent.
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
17:16
So this is proven we're below national average. Do they require you to do
Speaker 38
17:23
anything to get your numbers up? Just implement performance standards with our projects to try to attain that use rate.
implement projects and countermeasures strategies such as our awareness programs to try to attain that use rate that is consistent with the national average. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have two in the queue. Anyone
for state police? I'm going to go to Representative Wardlaw while you're there. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
18:02
You made the term, and I can read the paper where it says renewal. The total projected cost for this is $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? Is this a seven-year? Is it a five-year? Is it a three-year? What's it projected? And the renewal is an annual,
Speaker 49
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correct? Yes, to renew annually for up to seven years.
Okay, thank you. Representative Ladyman, do you have it for somebody else?
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
18:46
Go ahead. Yeah, number three, somebody else. DHS, I guess, is who that is. DHS.
hadn't been down there enough you just
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
19:19
introduce yourself again almost sat there instead melissa weatherton um dhs medicaid uh specialties populations you recognize the representative Well, my
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
19:30
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 Bladyman,
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
19:44
are you on number three? Number three, yeah. Okay, thank you, sir. So this is a pilot through our 98-17 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 community-based services.
So this particular grant with the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville for $10 million, 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 September 30th. So we're going to have a lot of these coming through with the end date of September 30th. But this particular grant is with Partners for Inclusive Communities through University of Arkansas, Fayetteville,
and they're doing three things for us. They're doing something called Families in Transition, or the FIT pilot, which is going into homes of children who are experiencing major life transitions, particularly 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 Northwest?
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
21:35
I mean, is it, or what they learn, would that be used statewide or how is that used? So I don't have the
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
21:43
pilot sites in front of me,
but it is in specific pilot sites across the state, but I can get that
Speaker 78
21:50
to you. But, yeah, the lessons learned from this we hope to incorporate against
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
21:55
the entire medicaid population no that's fine i just want
to know if it was statewide or regional thank you there's any other questions for dhs or are those five intergovernmental contracts seeing none i'll entertain a motion motion and a second representative laderman all in favor say aye all opposed like sign thank you members let's go to the out-of-state contracts e4
Speaker 12
22:20
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 view today the first one is with the arkansas economic development commission with renaissance energy advisors this is a new original contract for lithium supply chain analysis and this is to allow for a comprehensive 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 AEDC explaining the reason for needing the special procurement. Number two is with Department of Education with classic learning initiatives. This contract is in response to Act 724 of 2025 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 are requesting this contract to allow for the implementation of Act 724. 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. Number three from Department of Education, this contract 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. Number
four 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. Number five, 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. Number six, Department of Health with the Gel Group Incorporated.
This is a new original contract for drinking water analysis as required by the Safe Water Drinking Act. Number seven, with DHS, with Computer Aid Incorporated, this is Amendment 4 to an existing contract to continue to maintain the Arkansas Workforce Integrated Network System, the Workforce Education Alignment System, Work Opportunity Tax Credit, and other modules currently in production. Number eight is with DHS, with Myers and Stouffer LC. This is Amendment 5 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 emerging providers statewide. Number nine, DHS Division of Aging and Adults and Behavioral Health Services with ATA services. This is Amendment 8 to an existing contract, and this is to provide skilled nursing staff for the Arkansas State Hospital. Number 10, DHS Division of Aging, Adults, and Behavioral Health with Karasoft Technology Corp. This is for financial and clinical archives for the state
hospital electronic health records system. Number 11 with DHS is with Healthcare Services Group. This is Amendment 1 to an existing contract for food services for the state hospital. And number 12 with DHS, Division of Aging Adults and Behavioral Health with Linen King. This is for laundry services for the state hospital. Number 13 with Memphis Pathology Laboratory. This is amendment five to an existing contract for laboratory diagnostic testing services at the state hospital. Number 14 DHS with Red River Pharmacy Long-Term Care. This is amendment one
to an existing contract to extend and add funding for pharmacy services at the Arkansas Health Center and for DYS clients. Number 15, DHS with SHC services. This contract is Amendment 5 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 2 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 number 17 dhs division of county operations with health management systems this is to revise the rate sheet for medicaid
Speaker 10
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asset verification system number 18 dhs dds with samaritan integrative llc this is for
Speaker 12
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psychiatric services with the southeast arkansas human development center number 19 dhs division of medical services with Optum Government Solutions. This is to continue management of the independent
assessment and support program. Number 20, Department of Public Safety, Division of Arkansas State Police, Part D Advisors. This is Amendment 5 to an existing contract, and this is for Medicare Part D and retiree subsidy services for the state police. Number 21, Department of Shared Administrative Services with Carasoft Technology Group. This is for conducting a statewide skills assessment for information technology personnel number 22 department of shared administrative services with deloitte consulting this is a new original contract for 3.3 million dollars
and this is for the office of personnel management to contract to purchase implementation services for success factor performance and goals management compensation management and career development planning modules number 23 department of transformation and shared services dis with Kerasoft. This is to conduct a statewide information technology applications assessment. Number 24 also with Kerasoft. 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 Department of Veterans Affairs with Express Services. This is a new original contract and it It is for skilled nurses in the Fayetteville and North Little Rock facilities of Veterans Affairs. Number 26, Department of Veterans Affairs with Superior Linen Services. This is for laundry services. It's Amendment 1 to an existing contract. Number 27, University of Arkansas with Dell Marketing. This is a new original contract for implementation, design, and migration to the NSXT environment.
Number 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 Siegel Group. 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 number 30, with the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith with AGB Search.
This is a new original contract, and it is for executive search consulting services for their college of business, as well as their engineering college, and then a professor of computer science. These are the out-of-state contracts,
Mr. Chair. Thank you, co-chair. You've got one on the veterans affairs. Anybody with
veterans affairs? Just introduce yourself, and
Speaker 87
30:16
good afternoon sir, Wayne Ruthven, Chief of Staff, Department
Speaker 88
30:19
of Veterans Affairs. Stevie Smith, CFO, Department of Veterans
Affairs. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, gentlemen, for being here. How much, it seems like each month we have several contracts of contract nursing, which, you know, contract nursing is quite a bit expensive. So can you tell me how much we've spent, 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 always do
Speaker 93
30:52
contract nursing and paying three to four or
Speaker 87
30:57
five times the amount? That's a good question, sir. Thank you for asking. First of all, 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-30s to mid-40% state employee rate.
in the direct care. Every year that varies but not a great deal. Obviously 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 obtain $5,000 extra a year as a recruiting tool and a retention tool.
They get half and half. Tomorrow we're going before the personnel committee requesting a similar program for our CNAs, smaller amount of money, but same thing, half up front, half after you've been with us for a while for retention. 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 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 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 goals which would be 100% state direct care personnel well
count me as a partner and moving forward
if you guys need a different avenue count me into that because I'd like to see that contract nursing part go down because we can spend that kind of money somewhere else and do just as good. So thank you. Thank
you, Mr. Chair. So did I hear you write that you're approximately 70% contract? Yes, sir. Well, I
Speaker 94
33:22
would say it's a little bit lower than that, but we have been as high as
Speaker 87
33:27
70% contract at some points in the past.
We run in in the high 30s to low 40% 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 Representative Ladyman
Speaker 102
33:55
Department of Commerce number one item one
Introduce yourself and you're recognized for the
Speaker 103
34:23
question. Good afternoon. Allison Hatfield, Chief of Staff
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
34:26
of Commerce. Hello. Fred Lewis, Director of Strategic Initiatives at AEDC. push your button do that again Fred Lewis director strategic initiatives AEDC
thank you 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
Speaker 108
34:53
date on here as an expiration it's it's a it's a continuation And it's a specific work continuation with the same two consultants who completed some original work on the lithium strategic analysis in Q4 of 2024.
And with all the changes that have gone on, this is to help us focus on those changes and what we
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
35:15
need to do differently. Well, that answers one of my questions. Why are we doing this now and why didn't we do it
in the past? Yeah. So you're already doing that, so that's good. But, I mean, what kind of – it talks about monitoring national lithium plays. What outcomes or
what do we expect to get from these consultants? What are the goals that we want them to
Speaker 103
35:37
do? Just a 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 for us. So are
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
36:06
we looking at how we compete with other states and what the cost of implementation,
Speaker 115
36:10
who the players are? Is that what you're looking at? What we should focus on
Speaker 108
36:15
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
Speaker 117
36:24
with any additional incentives we think we need down the road, depending on what the market dictates, et cetera. These guys are pretty senior in nature, have a national scope and contacts, et cetera, that can help us, I think, build our lithium business in southwest Arkansas. One more,
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
36:43
Mr. Chairman, if I might. How is the lithium market? Is it what we expect? Is it getting stronger, weaker, based on this information?
Speaker 108
36:52
No, price today I think was $23,000 a ton. A year ago it was $10,000 a ton.
Speaker 117
36:58
So it's getting better. We still need to break ground in southwest Arkansas. We still think that's going to take place this year. Standard Lithium and their consortium just signed an outsourcing contract to sell, I think it was 6,000 tons a year for 10 years. That will 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 been said a lot. It's around the corner, but I think the momentum is
there. Thank you. Any other questions on this? Seeing none, thank you guys for coming down. Senator Rice. Number 22, Shared Services. Someone with Shared Services here.
Just introduce yourselves, and you're recognized for the
Speaker 126
38:13
question, Senator. Yes, sir. Kay Barnhill, Department of Shared Administrative Services.
Speaker 127
38:19
Courtney Traylor, Chief of Staff, Shared Administrative Services. Can you
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
38:30
give me a brief description of what we're getting? This is a
new contract, one time, correct?
Yes, sir. What we're getting for three and a third million dollars, how that will be assessed and what kind of timeline success will be determined in? Okay. Yes, sir.
Speaker 132
38:51
As you know, S4 HANA is going live in July, and the current performance evaluation system will not be supported in the S4 HANA system. So what we're doing here is going to SuccessFactors 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 at the end of the year to discuss their performance. This is a system that encourages discussions throughout the rating period. We have to start it now because we need to have this in place in January of 27
Speaker 133
39:39
so that we can use it for the 2027 performance evaluation results.
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
39:47
What kind of timeline do you think it will take to know if the system's doing what you are saying it's going
Speaker 132
39:56
to do? Well, the first evaluation will take place probably in May of 27, so we can see what those results are at that particular
Speaker 133
40:04
time. That would be the first time we'd have an indication of how the
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
40:10
system is actually working. Okay, and I'm more skeptical, though, where I get no 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 expectations. Yes,
sir, we will. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is there any
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
40:37
questions on this? Representative Board of Law. This morning, we went through the 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 I'm going to 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 20th. So how many people have you hired since you took over that
process for the human development centers? I don't know since
Speaker 132
41:07
the beginning of the process. After the meeting this morning, I went back to see how many we hired last week, and that was 53. For the human development centers? That was DDS, yes, sir. How many people does it
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
41:20
take a week to keep the human development centers up to staff?
You're doing the hiring for them now, correct? Yes, 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? Is 53 it? Is 75 it? Is 85 it?
Is 90? How many people? I really can't answer that question directly, Mr. Ward-Law, because
Speaker 132
41:42
we've just started doing this in January, so the numbers have varied during the various pay periods. So we've been doing it three months, right? Well, no, about six weeks. Okay.
Speaker 145
41:54
All right, well, can you get that information back to
Speaker 146
42:05
staff? Yes, sir. I'll be happy to. Representative Leitman, is it on
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
42:09
this? Yes. You're recognized? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah, to piggyback on what Representative Wardlaw was talking about, you all heard the conversation this morning. We know, I 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 is made? Okay,
Speaker 132
42:46
here's the process as it works today. A department will let us know they're trying to fill a position. We would advertise that position for five days.
Once we have looked through 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 I-9 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 onboarded 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 132
43:47
days is 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
Speaker 133
43:53
their selection process because they select the applicant. We have nothing to do with the selection process. We're just processing that after the fact.
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
44:02
So has the time to hire employees, is it longer now with your process than it was prior? I don't
Speaker 132
44:12
think that has been proven to be true, but I can check and get some statistics and let you
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
44:19
know for sure. And as Representative Wardlaw said, do you consider the turnover rate? I mean, you know, if the turnover rate is a month, I mean, again, if you're hiring a person,
and I'm not saying accountants and IT people are not important, but at HDCs, if nobody's there, 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 time there that they need to be filled within a certain time period. Right, right. And if we
Speaker 139
44:53
know as soon as we can, we will start that process right off the bat.
Speaker 132
44:58
In fact, we have a process called Evergreen where that position can constantly be advertised. So if 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
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
45:16
you're describing. So this problem we all hear about, you think
Speaker 132
45:19
that's going to get better? Yes, sir. I feel confident that it will
get better. Soon? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you. Senator Rice, is it for
Speaker 33
45:31
them? All right. You're recognized. Thank you. And I'm not
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
45:34
on the peer committee this round, but I did watch it live stream this morning,
and I'm not holding you accountable for that. But, Kay, 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 and tell this morning, you're always going to have turnover. And in the environment of employees today, I understand that. But the one thing I wanted to talk back into the screen while they were talking about this this morning, I could contact one person, I'll bet you, at every human development center
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 happens right 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 going to feel like putting in the truth and tell you what would fix the problem
right i don't think they are because i think it it jeopardizes their employment But what I would ask for, and you'd tell DHS and I'll tell them on my own, somebody needs to get their finger on this turnover, high turnover, and say, what can we do?
We think we fixed the pay pretty much, never going to 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. 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. Yes, sir.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is there any other questions? Seeing none, any questions on the 30? Any other questions?
Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion to accept these out-of-state contracts. Motion, second, by Representative Ledeman. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, like sign. Thank you, members. Let's go to the in-state contracts, E-5. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Speaker 12
48:12
Page 28 of your E-packet are the in-state contracts for your review this month. The first one with ASU 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 podcastvideos.com, LLC. This is a new original contract valued originally at $314,000, 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.
Number three, Department of Corrections, Division of Community Corrections with In His Wings Ministry. This is Amendment 6 to an existing contract for re-entry services. This is for an 18-bed female re-entry facility located in Jonesboro. Number four, Department of Education with Management Services for Education Data. This is for a Migrant Education Database Extension. This is Amendment 2 to an already existing contract. Number five, Department of Education with Umbrella Security Solutions. This is for armed security services for Arkansas School for the Deaf and Blind.
It is extending an existing contract. Number six, Department of Health with 21 CJS Janitorial Services. This is for janitor services at the Department of Health. Number seven, DHS, Division of Aging Adults and Behavioral Health with Arkansas Health Care Personnel Incorporated. This is a contract for skilled nursing and other medical personnel at the Arkansas State Hospital and other agency facilities. Number eight, DHS, Division of Aging Adults and Behavioral Health with Arkansas Health Care Personnel. This is also for skilled nursing at the Arkansas Health Center and other agency
facilities. Number nine, DHS with Kids Source Incorporated. This is for physical and occupational therapy services for clients at the Arkansas State Hospital. Number 10, DHS with Ouachita Regional Counseling and Mental Health. This is Amendment 1 to an existing contract for therapeutic counseling services for persons without insurance or another payer source. Number 11, DHS DCFS with Charles Hoskin PLC. This is for legal representation for DCFS clients statewide. Number 12, DHS DCFS
with Harbor House Incorporated of Fort Smith. This is to provide substance abuse treatment services for DCFS clients. Number 13, DHS DCFS with Secure Foundation Counseling. This is for counseling services for dcfs clients number 14 dhs dcfs with wind counseling this is for home studies for foster adoptive interstate compact on placement of children and court-ordered families within the system number 15 dhs division of county operations with arkansas hunger relief alliance
this is amendment four to an existing contract to increase funding for the nutrition education to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients. Number 16, DHS-DDS with April Peek. This is for speech therapy services for the Southeast Arkansas HDC. Number 17, DHS-DDS with Derek Ross. This is for dental services with the Arkadelphia Human Development Center. Number 18, DHS-DDS with Howard Psych Consulting. This is for psychology services at the Southeast Arkansas Human Development Center.
Number 19, DHS-DDS with Marsh George Clinic, PA. 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 is for aircraft inspection and maintenance on the State Police Airplane. Number 21, Department of Military with ProClean Janitorial Service. This is a new original contract for janitorial services for the 188th Military Base in Fort Smith. Number 22, Department of Military with Waste 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 Amendment 3 to an existing contract. Number 24, University of Arkansas with Dynamic Integrated Security. This is for Armed and Unarmed Security Guard Services at Garvin Woodland Gardens in Garland County. Number 25, University of Arkansas Medical Waste Services. This is for Pickup and Disposal of Medical Waste for the U of A Fayette Bill. Amendment 1 to an existing contract. And number 26, University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College with four-season service.
This is for HVAC maintenance and repair services across the Pulaski Technical College campus. These are the
out-of-state contracts, Mr. Chair.
Speaker 64
52:59
Representative Wardlaw, which one of the 25? Department of Education. Department
Just introduce yourself, and you're recognized for the question, Representative. Courtney Solis for
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
53:39
Department of Education. Greg Rogers, Department of Education. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, I see
total projected $735,000, and then total after review $1.4 million. Can you
explain to me the disparity between those two first, and then I'll ask my other question. Let me see what two you want.
sorry trying to get through all the contracts
Speaker 167
54:27
here i understand i just got a three o'clock in lone oak
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
54:30
so can you repeat the first part of your question again please i'm sorry so when you look at number
five shows total after review 1.4 million and change total projected which means it's not supposed to go over that amount is 735,000 can you explain to me the
Speaker 175
54:43
disparity between the two I don't see this 735 the total that we're projecting updated it's someplace I just go ahead and
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
54:54
get to the point whatever y'all seem to want to not answer me which is nothing new at what point do we re-bid a contract so do we re-bid a contract when it's double the original projected or do we rebuild a contract under amendment 20 or amendment eight or amendment four or do we just let the amendments pile up and we just keep paying the bill because we like the
Speaker 177
55:18
contractor it's a seven-year contract i understand so why is it twice the total
Speaker 178
55:28
projected fee back to the original question so when we added the security contract for the blind and deaf school this is we took over what was a previous one and
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
55:38
i kind of figured you were going to say that so amendment five which was one
amendment ago we added the school of the death and blind and it was 678 000 at that point we added 300 000 to it so now we're at amendment six that's still an
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
Speaker 178
56:10
the total projected that we have is three million dollars and we're adding another year total projected on our paper right here
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
56:18
in front of me is 735 000 it nowhere says three million or i wouldn't
Speaker 146
56:31
ask these questions so let me get katie to interject here
Speaker 182
56:35
representative ward law i think the total projected was captured when the initial contract was
Speaker 12
56:42
reviewed so when it was originally a hundred thousand at that point in time they did the math out that if they continued it all the way through seven years it would ultimately be 735 so that information has not been updated so let's go
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
56:55
back let's talk about a history of what i've done so 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 T. 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, then maybe I can understand it if we have a projected new cost of what that's going to cost through the rest of this life of this contract. But we seem to not be able to get
Speaker 178
57:49
that answer. Yeah, I don't know why the 735 is on there. But, yes, it was to add the 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 of $3.2 million on this contract because we added School for the Blind and Deaf. Before it was just for the Capital Mall area,
but we've added the School for the Deaf and Blind, which was one of the amendments that was
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
58:11
done on here. Mr. Chair, can I make a motion to hold this contract until 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.
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
58:24
That's an appropriate motion. We will do that whenever it's time. Thank you. I'll yield to
any other members, but I do have a question on another contract at the proper time. Senator Rice, do you have it on this? You got an additional on this from the representative of Orla?
Speaker 14
58:41
Okay. You guys are dismissed. Senator Rice, which one is it? It's number 20 on
Speaker 186
58:50
the Department of Public Safety. Department of Public Safety.
Speaker 35
59:14
Introduce yourself, and you're recognized for the question, Senator. Sergeant
Speaker 119
59:26
unit. Charles Weiman, Director of Maintenance for Air Support. Afternoon, gentlemen. Glad to have you here. Familiar with annuals
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
59:32
and maintenance and expense on aircraft, can you give me an approximate what the number of hours flown on that aircraft in 2025? i don't have that in front of
Speaker 190
59:44
me uh this year has been a pretty low year considering i know
in the past we've flown about 90 hours a year okay but i would say
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
59:55
we're substantially lower than that this year okay uh is there a annual uh cost analysis or anything who who would do that to say i know we've had this discussion over the years uh on there what it costs 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 uh i'm wondering about our cost efficiency here if we're we're down
around which 90 is not not a small amount but uh 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 the auditors
Speaker 190
1:00:36
last year 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 is is
Speaker 189
1:00:51
there been any big maintenance in the last five years so last year we had landing gear
Speaker 190
1:00:57
and props overhauled so it was a pretty substantial annual last year and with this year you're looking at the engine hot section so that's why the number is so high both engines or both engines both engines and you know this
Speaker 189
1:01:10
is a 20 year airplane 20 year old airplane and this is the first time we're doing this at 1800 hours you know you know years scare some people
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
1:01:17
but airplane that doesn't no it doesn't mean it doesn't mean anything no sir for people that think it does it's as long as it's maintained okay 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 uh i
Speaker 198
1:01:33
can get it to But do you give it to him automatically? We give a yearly report on kind of what we've spent. Yeah, I don't go to a
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
1:01:42
lot of trouble, but I'd appreciate if you've got some data I'd like to look at. Absolutely. Thank you.
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
1:01:51
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Wardlaw. DHS this time.
DHS. introduce yourself again and representative wardlaw you're recognized for the question melissa
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
1:02:22
weatherton dhs medicaid specialty populations i've caused you to come to
the table a lot today you have so let's talk about number eight the arkansas health care personnel
incorporated so if i read this correctly we've been in this contract since 2024 uh total projected and we got in with 6.4 million and change after review and i'm guessing that's today it'll be at 8.6 so we're looking to increase the total projected cost roughly
2.2 million dollars is that correct Jay Hill
Speaker 202
1:03:01
Division of Aging Adult Services with DHS
yes representative 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 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 one contract we may reduce spend when your agency
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
1:03:36
i understand when 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 two-year 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 year six and at what point do we go back to bid to make sure we're getting the best deal for taxpayers it's back to the original questions i had for department of ed and the funny thing about the
Speaker 168
1:04:09
department ed contract it's only a year old and we're
Speaker 202
1:04:30
already over the seven-year projected cost when we do add money add funding to these contracts represented very often what we do is pull money from other staffing contracts so while it does reflect a total projected increase
for one particular staffing agency for one contract. All right, so what
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
1:04:44
I need you to do is get staffed all your staffing contracts, where you're at with all of them, email that all in to staff and get that to us,
and I'll make the motion to hold this one until Friday as well. We can do that
Speaker 41
1:05:00
for you, sir. Thank you. All right, Representative Painter. Thank
you, Mr. Chair. Question, I want to ask the same question like I
did with the VA. You know, these two contracts alone, what we paid to date is around $12 million for contract nursing.
How much, if you can get us to staff, how much year to date have you paid for contracts nursing? And then two is how, what are those positions? How much are your staff? So like VA said, 60 to 70% of their is contract. I'd like to know that too as well. We'll get you that for all
Speaker 210
1:05:34
of our facilities, all seven. Great. Thank you. is there
Speaker 14
1:05:45
any other questions seeing none you're dismissed thank you
representative painter you're recognized for a motion I'm gonna make the motion to hold contracts
seven and eight until Friday heard that motion entertain a second second by representative ferguson all in favor say aye aye all opposed like sign all
right so we need to uh expunge that vote make the motion to expunge that vote
by representative painter second by representative ferguson all in favor
say aye aye all all opposed like like sign all right we need to amend that motion i'll make the motion
mr chair for five seven and eight contracts to be
held all right motion to hold five seven and eight second by representative ferguson all in favor say aye all opposed like sign thank you members uh we will go on to
so i'll entertain a motion to adopt all the others motion by representative painter second by representative ferguson all in favor say aye all opposed like sign thank
you members let's go go on to the reports services contracts with amendments thank you mr.
Speaker 12
1:07:34
chair submitted for the information of the subcommittee we have
three reports for your review for your information this month number one is service contract amendments without a material change number two executed contracts number three critical emergency procurements which were procured on an emergency basis these are
the reports mr. chair any question on the reports
saying none those will be reviewed is there any other business to come before the committee saying 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
Speaker 19
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 33
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
Speaker 210