ALC-Review
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Unknown speaker
0:00
if everybody could get to their seats
Speaker 6
0:30
alc review subcommittee will come to order so uh we're gonna begin you got anything to nothing okay so we need to we got some stuff on the supplemental agenda if i could get a motion to suspend motion and second uh all in favor say aye all opposed like sign okay we will take those in in in order
Speaker 7
0:57
in the calendar so if you want to begin with the uh um we need
Speaker 11
1:06
12. thank you mr chair good afternoon members katie walden bureau of legislative research members i do want to bring to your attention before we begin with the regular review items there is an item a1 this is for the committee's information only this is the emergency action report there were a few items that were found in july that needed to be reviewed in july and so the chairs of this subcommittee and legislative council went ahead and approved those items that
were deemed to have immediate need so that report is the first thing in this packet for your information only on item B we have methods of finance you'll see in your packet there is a letter from DFA accounting stating the projects that are submitted this month for review there are also two more that are added in the supplemental agenda so I'll review those for you now those are on item those are summarized on item B, page two. First, from ASUBB, they have a new MOF for $321,000 using
institutional reserves for a Heber Springs boiler replacement. Number two, also with ASUBB, this is adding funds to an existing method of finance using hired grant funding and university reserves for a precision agriculture training center construction. Number three, with Arkansas Tech University. This is a new MOF for $3 million using facilities repair and renovation reserves for various auxiliary improvements around campus. Number four, also with Arkansas Tech, this is
another $3 million MOF using the same funding stream for educational and general improvements around their campus. Flipping to B page three, we have number five with the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. This is a $5 million MOF using reserve funding for minor repairs, including HVAC system repairs, roof replacements, and facade maintenance, among other things. Number six with UAMS. This is a new MOF using 100% university reserves for installing a general electric
equipment and preparing room for CT installation. Number seven, also with UAMS. This is also a new MOF for $380,000 using foundation funding for the Northwest Arkansas Schmidling Center modifications. Number eight with UAMS, this is a new MOF for new CT equipment. They've allocated $547,000 of university reserves. Number nine with UAMS, this is a new MOF for $326,000 for a patient
room roof garden installation and this is funded with a private donation number 10 with ua monticello this is a new mof valued at 1.2 million dollars using private gift funding for the steelman field house renovation flipping to b4 we have project number 11 with ua pulaski tech this is a new mof for 425 000 using federal arpa funds from a skills development grant for the energy simulation lab number 12 with ua pulaski tech this is revising an existing mof using plant
funds and foundation funding for the grand hall and bistro cafe renovation and moving to your supplemental agenda packet which is on the back side of your packet behind the goldenrod sheet packet you'll find the other two methods of finance and those are detailed on page four of your supplemental agenda packet in the same manner as the other MOFs. The first supplemental project is with ASU Jonesboro.
They're revising an existing MOF for miscellaneous deferred maintenance on the president's home using institutional reserves. And finally, there's another MOF with UAMS also for deferred maintenance and minor projects. This is a new MOF valued at $7 million using university reserves. These are the methods of finance, Mr.
Speaker 6
5:22
Chair. Is there any questions from B1 through B12 or the two on the supplemental agenda?
Take a motion to review those items. Motion by Senator McKee. Second. Second by Representative Painter. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, like signed. Thank you. We'll go on to discretionary grants under C. Thank you, Mr. Chair. C1 is the
Speaker 9
5:58
first section of grants submitted for your
Speaker 11
6:01
review this month. There are six discretionary grants from the Department of Health. The first one is with the Minority Health Commission with the Arkansas Human Development Corp.
This is a state grant for Hispanic and Latin American populations, health fairs, public forums, and awareness events throughout the year. number two also with minority health this is a state grant valued at a hundred thousand dollars for community health workers for the purpose of health screenings education and outreach number three with department of health with their chronic disease division there's a grant for the arkansas cancer coalition this is a federal grant for implementing the state's cancer plan moving to item c page two number four is with department of health and stroudwater associates
this is a federal grant for critical access hospitals and provider-based rural health clinics number five department of health with philander smith university this 225 000 federal grant is for peer recovery support services in higher education number six department of health is the nwa crisis intervention center this is a 200 000 federal grant for evidence-based suicide prevention training throughout the state those are the grants for Department of
Speaker 6
7:17
Health is there any question on those six under the
Speaker 8
7:34
Department of Health the next page item C
Speaker 16
7:39
page three there are two DHS grants for your review this month the first is
Speaker 11
7:45
with the Division of Aging Adults and Behavioral Health this grant
is going to bridging the gap of Arkansas this is a federal grant for three hundred and forty two thousand dollars and this is to operate their partnership for success program this includes substance misuse prevention and mental health program services in a protected service area number two also the Division of Aging Adults and Behavioral Health this grant goes to Family Centered Treatment Foundation it's a 1 million dollar federal grant and it provides intensive in-home services to families going through addiction recovery so those are the two grants for DHS this month is there any
Speaker 6
8:23
any questions on C2 saying then go on to C3 on the next page C3
Speaker 11
8:32
this grant is with ua pine bluff with the tobacco prevention and cessation program this is actually a grant fund that was previously approved last month but the agency has decided to award the grant to a different vendor so this they have resubmitted the grant proposal with the new selected vendor arts absolutely this is a 67 000 grant using master settlement agreement dollars and this
is for coalitions to educate youth youth about tobacco use the
Speaker 32
9:02
effects of secondhand smoke and health disparities so those are the that's the prevention
Speaker 6
9:09
cessation grant is there any question on any of those seeing none let's go on to discretionary
Speaker 11
9:24
C packet these are the Arkansas historic preservation program grants for the year funding is derived from real estate
transfer tax funding and these are the eligible awardees for the year you can see there's a list and these are all projects that were submitted and approved by a HPP for various renovation and restoration projects around the state there are ten projects that are approved for this fiscal year and you can you can see the list there for
Speaker 6
9:58
your reference is there any questions on C4 Seeing none, any questions on any of the items C1 through C4?
Seeing none, take a motion to review those discretionary grants. Motion and second by Representative Ferguson. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, like sign. Thank you. Let's go on to D1. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Moving to the contract section
Speaker 11
10:30
beginning in item D, you'll see a cover letter from the OSP director, Ms. Jessica Patterson. As you see each month in this letter, she outlines that all of the contracts that are submitted for review this month were reviewed by her office and deemed to be sound and legally procured.
She also notes in her letter that there are two ratification requests, which I'll go over with you in detail here in a moment. and then finally in the letter you'll see they call out as requested by the legislative council they call out the contracts that were procured under the traditional RFP method or the most advantageous proposal method so under item d1 we have the two ratification requests that are made for this month the first one is with the department of health they are requesting for the ratification
of an expense that was made to a company called Gainwell Technologies in the amount of $310,000. Apparently, there was a miscommunication about or delay in communication about the proper procurement method for which this agency or the company should be funded. The Department of Health requested that this contract be deemed sole source as provided in law, which requires a different procurement method but upon review of the forms that were filled out by the department of health
the office of state procurement decided that it should be procured normally however the vendor was allowed to go ahead and begin work while this negotiation or while this determination was being made and so they do have one set of outstanding payments that need to be ratified today and they've listed that here in the letter also when we get into the contracts you'll see a new contract for this vendor and this vendor provides for the online administration of the state wick program for women and children so that's the first ratification for your review
Speaker 6
12:26
is there any questions on that ratification for review uh senator
Speaker 11
12:49
the second ratification for your review today is with the university of arkansas at fort smith this is a vendor that they have been using for marketing strategies and services
that contract was inadvertently allowed to expire but the vendor has continued to do work and has some outstanding expenses and the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith would like to renew this contract for one final year and so they have requested for a ratification of these services and to allow the vendor to continue in the last year of the contract that's the second ratification today. Any
Speaker 42
13:25
questions on that ratification? Representative Kavanaugh. Can I have the
Speaker 46
13:32
university come down, please? Kerry Tucker, I'm the Vice Chancellor for Finance Administration, UA Fort Smith. Thank
Speaker 48
13:59
you. I'm up here. I'm a chair, up here.
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
14:03
Right in front of you. Sorry, sorry, sorry. So, all right. My question is, you actually let this contract go unnoticed that it was expired. How did that happen? Ma'am, it was overlooked on our part. It was
Speaker 46
14:16
a mistake that we made. uh and uh i i don't have a good explanation so i'm not
Speaker 53
14:22
going to lie to you it was just a mistake that we made in our in our part we found the mistake and we're trying to ratify that right now and how long did it
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
14:37
expire june 30th okay and you didn't have any processes letting you know
that this contract was expired and that you should have gone through the process to to renew we didn't then we do now okay can i ask why if an a why as a state agency in a school that you don't have a process in place to know when your contracts expire uh man we we uh we
Speaker 53
15:09
we i don't have a good excuse for you we we had a lot going on i've got fairly new people
in some positions and that was just one that went through so in going through what we did wrong we were making sure that we're gonna in march we're gonna have a meeting and go over every contract that we have to make sure that we don't let this happen again okay and how are there any other
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
15:29
contracts that have gone through unnoticed that are expired or is this the only one this is the only one I'm aware of
Speaker 6
15:48
ma'am. Okay thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none go on to
OSP request for approvals. Thank you Mr. Chair. Item D2 in your packet begins on
Speaker 11
15:58
and we have all of the all of the pages numbered for item d in your bottom left hand corner of each page so item d page six begins the rfq requests there are two for you this month the first one is with the board of nursing and it is to contract with someone to conduct investigations regarding allegations of violating the nurse practice act the second one is on page d8 is with dhs
this RFQ is for intensive in-home services and transition support for young adult services those are the two RFQs for your review this month any
Speaker 6
16:41
questions on RFQs seeing none go on to construction related contracts thank you mr.
Speaker 27
16:50
chair the construction contracts begin on page 11 of your D packet and I
Speaker 11
16:56
want to make a note for the committee this morning the office of state procurement contacted me and
they wanted to let us know that they are pulling contract number one which is with division of community correction from consideration they want to do some more work on this contract so they've removed it from from your review today so beginning with item two this contract is with the division of correction with mcclellan engineers this is for on-call engineering services and i did ask just on behalf of the committee if of the correction staff if this was related to the construction of the new facility and they stated that no this is an ongoing on-call
engineering contract that they have used and will continue to use just generally so that's for your information today number three through number five are all contracts with dhs with various engineering companies for on-call engineering design services item d page 13 number six is a contract with the department of parks heritage and tourism with allison and partners this is an amendment to an existing contract for improvements to the
delta heritage trail state park and pinnacle mountain visitor center number seven with department of parks heritage and tourism this contract is with crafton and toll it's amending an existing contract for services for the pinnacle mountain state park highway 300 crossing study number eight also department of parks with craft and until this is an amending an existing contract for services provided at petty gene state park number nine department of parks heritage tourism with half associates this amends an existing contract for services at mount magazine and
Mountain Ebo State Park. That gets us over to D, page 16. Contract number 10, Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism, also with HALF Associates. This is amendment number five to an existing contract for the expansion of the campground at Crowley's Ridge. Number 11 with Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism
Speaker 34
19:03
with McClellan Consulting Engineers. This is amendment 17 to an existing contract for services related to the Lake Catherine Marina and Lake Chico Woodlands Trail.
Speaker 11
19:17
That takes us over to item D, page 18. Number 12, Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism with Snow Engineering. This amendment is related to services provided at the MENA Trails at the Queen Wilhelmina State Park. Number 13, Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism with TAR and A. This is Amendment 8 to an existing contract for improvements at the Pettyjean State Park Lodge. Number 14, Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism with Taylor Kempke's Architects.
This is for services provided for the DeGray Lodge improvements, among others. On page D20, you'll see item 15 with Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism with Witzel Evans-Rasco. This is for the Pettyjean State Park Museum of Automobiles roof replacement. On the next page we begin contracts with the University of Arkansas. The first one is with Bell Construction Company and this is a new original contract for $1.6 million for the construction of a maintenance building and a wood shop on the ASMSA campus in Hot Springs.
number 17 with the University of Arkansas with core architects this is for a development of a plan for a new zone based parking system on campus number 18 with the University of Arkansas with seals construction company this is an original contract for the little pine parking lot and stairwell renovations in the academic building also at AS MS a number 19 is with you a little rock with Polk Stanley Wilcock architects this is a new original contract for the
speech building renovation among other projects at the UA Little Rock campus these are the construction contracts mr. chair is
Speaker 42
21:04
there any questions on those 18 with that one
Speaker 6
21:09
pulled see no questions okay senator love
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
21:28
thank you mr. I just want to go back to the the contract number two for the
Department Division of Corrections so as I understand it and and I'm glad that you staff did make the clarification that this that McClellan Consulting has nothing to do with with the new the new facility being constructed that means that they that McClellan is not doing anything on any of those projects at all
Speaker 11
22:00
nothing to do we were told that this specific contract is only with McClellan is only related to ongoing on-call engineering services has McClellan done any
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
22:13
work there if we can if mr.
Speaker 1
22:20
chair we can get the red corrections somebody with corrections
Speaker 5
22:30
just introduce yourself and you're recognized to answer the question chad brown department of
Speaker 74
22:40
corrections representative i'm not going to say we're not going
Speaker 75
22:42
to use mcclellan for the new facility but this on call is not for that if we decide to use them for something that requires us to come back to you then we're definitely going to do that so we're we're trying to be transparent with our contracts okay so all right so here's
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
23:00
here's what I'm hearing you say because if this is on call and this is open that means you all can pull McClellan to do work correct me if I'm wrong
that's correct okay so are do you all plan on on using McClellan at all I don't have an answer for that I'll have
Speaker 75
23:18
to get with our maintenance construction department and get you those details which i can do that okay can you get that before friday
Speaker 42
23:31
sure okay thank you is there any other questions for the department uh senator tucker
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified
23:35
thank you mr mayor maybe a different different way of asking the same question is is the
Speaker 85
23:41
department committed to not not using any money from this contract on a frank frank franklin county facility senator i'm
Speaker 75
23:49
not sure i can answer that question uh at this moment in time but let me go back and talk with leadership of the department and i can get you a better answer thank
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
24:03
you senator mark johnson thank you mr chairman my question is for uh state parks
Speaker 44
24:07
there's nobody else in the queue so parks can come
Speaker 5
24:39
up how you doing I'll introduce themselves, and then Senator Johnson can.
Speaker 95
24:44
Marty Ryle, Director of Legislative Affairs, Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism. Jeff King, Deputy
Speaker 96
24:58
Director for the Division of State Parks. Chris Myers, Manager of Planning and Development for State
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
25:03
Parks. Senator Johnson, you're right now. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Gentlemen, thank you for coming down here. I hope this is an easy one and quick. I'm always real observant anything to do with Petty Jean. It's no longer my district, but I get calls for it, and I'm big time.
It's the jewel of the system. The Museum of Automobiles is another jewel of our state. A lot of people don't think about it anymore, but I was brought to my attention by Will Rockefeller. if there were roof problems and he was very concerned about it and uh of course it was founded by his grandfather and i'm just wondering is this is this the uh uh which 11s and rasco is where are they in solving the roof problem at the museum of automobiles this this amendment is adding
Speaker 96
25:51
um that project to their contract um they just did a full facility review and um this is the primary project to start with so this is adding it to their contract so we
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
26:03
can begin design great well that answers my question thank you
Speaker 40
26:09
thank you mr. chair you know any other members have questions for tourism seeing none thank
Speaker 6
26:24
you gentlemen we'll go go to the intergovernmental contracts d4
Speaker 10
26:27
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The intergovernmental contracts begin on D23. Number one is with
Speaker 34
26:36
the Economic Development Commission with the University of Arkansas Fayetteville. This is for the World Trade Center of Arkansas expenses, Amendment 3 to an existing contract. Number two is with the Division of Workforce Services, the Department of Commerce with the U of A Fayetteville. This is a new original contract for career counseling information and referral services number three department of
Speaker 11
26:59
health with uams this is a new original contract funded with master tobacco settlement agreement dollars for to begin a preventative health residency at uams number four department of health with uams this is amendment five to an existing contract for mobile mammography services number five dhs with ua little rock this is amendment five to an existing contract for evidence-based trainings across the state as well as a mid-south summer school conference
for training for behavioral health number six on item d page 26 dhs with u of a little rock this is amendment three to an existing contract to extend a substance abuse block grant program Number seven, DHS with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. This is Amendment 6 to an existing contract for the revision of performance indicators for protective services for adult female victims of domestic abuse and their children.
Number eight, with DHS and UAMS, this is Amendment 2 to an existing contract to continue the operation of the Poison Control Drug Information Center. number nine with arkansas state police this contract is with u of a fayetteville and this is for a highway safety survey these are the
Speaker 42
28:24
intergovernmental contracts is there any questions of those nine under d4 senator rice mr. chair it's
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
28:35
not for d4 i'm sorry i didn't hear
you call for d3 reviewed were you just going to go
on through i'm going to go through and okay i i do have something
Speaker 6
28:49
on a on a d3 i want to make a motion okay all right uh anything on the d d4 seeing nothing sorry representative rich richardson thank
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
29:05
you thank you mr chair on this number five what's this evidence base what do we know can you give some
Speaker 6
29:13
more information on that or maybe the Department of Human Services
Speaker 5
29:37
Department is there anyone there she comes introduce yourself and then let mr richardson ask
Speaker 114
29:45
his question good afternoon i'm paula stone
i'm with the department of human service office of substance abuse
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
29:53
and mental health services so could you just walk me through what
Speaker 115
29:59
this evidence-based training looks like yes sir so So for licensed counselors out in the field, we have to have continued education training. And so we have counselors out there that are providing substance abuse treatment services through this contract. And so we've changed the contract a bit to make those services, those training services more accessible.
We used to do, in Little Rock, all-day, three-day training. And so now we've moved to something that trains people how to do substance abuse interventions and different kinds of techniques to provide those counseling services. And we've moved that to two one-day online trainings that can be in person, some on-demand trainings that are virtual, and then two different six-hour trainings in Little Rock. But all of this is to train the people who are providing services to Arkansans who are seeking those services.
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
30:55
okay so it went from a three-day training to multiple days and online
Speaker 115
31:00
yeah we wanted to make that more accessible it's hard for counselors to come in from providing the services that they were and then spending three days in Little Rock so
Speaker 6
31:12
we wanted to make that more accessible okay okay thank you is there any other questions seeing none thank
Speaker 8
31:18
you very much you're dismissed go on to d5 the out-of-state contracts thank you
Speaker 11
31:24
mr. chair moving to d29 this begins the out-of-state
contracts there are 34 out-of-state contracts for your review today the first one is with arkansas public employees retirement system this is a new original contract with bank of america for banking services and you'll note that this is a special procurement and it's a new original contract so we always provide more documentation for your review all that is provided in this goldenrod packet and i've listed them in order of the contract so
Speaker 10
31:57
the first two first three pages
are the justification paperwork for this contract number
Speaker 11
32:03
two is with the public service commission with vantage point solutions this amends an existing contract for the administration of the arkansas high cost fund and the extension of telecommunications facilities fund number three with asu and honor lock this is a new original contract for cloud-based test proctoring services for asu number four arkansas tech university with birdsall voss and associates this is amendment one
to an existing contract for a multi-year strategic marketing campaign this is designed to increase enrollment and brand awareness for atu number five department of agriculture natural and cultural or natural resources commission with north bridge group incorporated this is amendment three to an existing contract for the engineering portion of the clean water survey number six aedc with retail strategies this is amendment one to an existing contract for retail recruitment consulting
services number seven with department of corrections with cgl management services slash JFA associates. This is to increase funding for this contractor to provide an FY26 prison population projection as well as they are expanding the scope of work for this provider to include a comprehensive study of the classification systems for all DOC facilities in conjunction with the sentencing commission. You all may have heard this was discussed in the
meeting yesterday about a re-evaluation of the scoring system and the allocation of people who are receiving the department of correction services so this is related to that re-evaluation study number eight with department of corrections with well path this contract is carried forward from last month they're requesting to change the scope of work of this contract it's exactly what you last month that was held this is to right-size the contract with the number
of facilities and people who are being served within the Department of Corrections for health services number nine with the division of environmental quality with 2kb energy services this is an original contract for a consultant to review and analyze documentation submitted by the energy service companies for the energy performance contracting program number 10 with 80 with Windsor solutions these are is for a technical technological solution that will allow ADEE to fully support regulatory programs this includes an
online portal for the LIHEAP and weatherization assistance program number 11 is with DFA management services this is a contract with computer aid incorporated this amendment is to augment the staff to maintain the DFA IT systems. Number 12, Department of Health with Gainwell Technologies. You're going to see two items here. 12 and 13 will go together. Number 12 is the ratification that you all saw in the
letter earlier for the $310,000. So this is to allow Department of Health to pay their outstanding invoices to Gainwell Technologies for the services they provide for the WIC program. Then number 13 with the Department of Health is a new original contract also with Gainwell Technologies, and this is a sole source by justification, so you'll see the paperwork for this contract also provided in the Goldenrod packet, page 4 through
Speaker 34
35:41
6. Number 14 is with Department of Health, Vital Interaction Incorporated.
this is to allow for an online system to allow for two-way
Speaker 11
35:54
email and short message services and voice response communications for patients number 15 is DHS with computer aid this is to continue information technologies infrastructure support for DHS number 16 is with DHS and Deloitte consulting. This is a $64 million original contract, and this is to administer information
support services department-wide with DHS. You all see this is an original contract, but the agency has used this vendor in the past, and so they're recontracting with this vendor for the same purpose. Number 17 is DHS Division of Aging Adults and Behavioral Health with the Southwest Call center this is for telephone answering services dhs dds with samaritan integrative solutions this is to extend and add funding for psychiatric services for patients of the southeast arkansas
human development center number 19 is dhs with milliman incorporated and this is for actual actuarial services including analyses of new and existing programs medicaid waiver assistance rate development and verification among other things number 20 is with DHS division of provider services and quality assurance with public partnerships this is to expand the scope of work to provide counseling and financial management services for self-directed and independent choices programs number 21 and 22 are both with Department of Parks heritage and
tourism with two vendors they're contracting with these vendors to provide for natural area vegetation management and plant community monitoring at the 18 natural areas across the state for the calendar year. The other vendor is the Nature Conservancy. Item 23 is with the State Crime Lab and National Medical Services. This is for comprehensive testing and identification of major drugs of abuse in post-mortem blood samples. Number 24
is department of veterans affairs with alpha medical laboratory this is a new original contract and this is medical lab services phlebotomy and courier services for the two veterans homes in the state this is also one of our special procurements that's in the golden rod packet number 25 is with the university of arkansas with campus guard this is an original contract for online security services and monitoring number 26 u of a with choice energy services retail
this is amendment to an existing contract and it's for broker and consultant services for the u of a fayetteville to help them with gas procurement number 27 university of arkansas with cornerstone government affairs this amends an existing contract to add funding for or the consultation services and expertise to assist them with finding and securing federal grant funding for the Division of Agriculture Resource Initiatives. Number 28, University of Arkansas with Huron Consulting. This is for IT assessment services for the University of Arkansas
Fayetteville. Number 29, University of Arkansas with LENA. This is amendment one to an existing contract and it is for evidence-based coaching for early childhood professional development programs number 30 is with the university of arkansas with lexington independence this is a new original contract for 3.8 million for dining services and management for asmsa number 31 university of arkansas with pfm asset management this is also a new contract for investment management of
operating funds to advise the u of a system 32 with u of a with vip special services this is washing services for various buildings on the u of a fayville campus number 33 ua fort smith with vision point marketing this is a marketing agency that will provide this is actually the new extension of the ratification that we discussed previously to help u of a fort smith to strengthen their brand visibility and expand their market share number 34 with you of a little rock with
the hanover research council this is amendment three to an existing contract to help them with grant seeking and securing future grants these are the out of state oh pardon me there's one more in your supplemental contract this is the last out of state contract it's on the very last page we received notification after we did the first download of all of the contracts and posted the agenda that the division of workforce services also had one contract that needed to be reviewed
this month it is one original contract out of state for three hundred thousand dollars with the kerasoft technology corporation this contract is part of supportive services for the UI modernization project and they state that this contract is needed to help employees support users as they roll out the new unemployment insurance online program these are the out-of-state contracts
Speaker 7
41:21
somebody with DHS come on down something's happened with my there there It just came back
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
41:36
up. DHS, come down. Senator Love. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would actually, I need DHS,
Speaker 123
41:42
not DHS, I need ADH. Okay, sorry. It lit up at the
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
41:47
same time, DHS. Mr. Chair, I want to ask Katie a question before I,
Katie, did you say this Gainwell technology contract, was that a new contract? Or is that an existing contract? Because it looks like it's new, but I
Speaker 11
42:07
just want to clarify. The vendor was chosen by the Department of Health, and while they were working out with the Office of State Procurement, kind of finalizing that process, they went ahead and allowed Gainwell to begin providing services. So that $310,000 is the payment of the outstanding services.
Speaker 32
42:29
And then you see the new contract that will allow them to begin and move
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
42:35
forward in providing those services. Okay. So, all right. Well,
my question was that is that this is a sole source contract. Initially, the gang well was a sole source contract. Is that not correct? all
Don Adams
Unverified
42:55
adams chief of staff for the department of health senator love we have an existing contract with gainwell gainwell is the company that supports our
wick electronic health health record we have an existing technical support maintenance contract with them and we have had for 18 years okay and it's exempt by law because it's a maintenance contract we started work to do modification to the system with that existing contract that was exempt by law and we were informed by osp that we couldn't do this work on that existing contract now gainwell is the only one that can do work on this system it's a proprietary system and they
developed the system so we hold on for a second hold on sure i
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
43:39
understand i understand that i just wanted to know if it was a sole source
contract and Gainwell was the one that was actually, it was a new contract or Gainwell was the first one. So now I understand. I don't have any further questions for them.
Mr. Chairman. Anybody else have a question? Okay. Representative Liedemann.
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
44:07
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I've got a question on number 8 back on page 31, D31. And I don't know whether we need the department to come down or
Speaker 5
44:20
whether staff could answer this, but that you guys, there's nothing else on
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
44:26
the board. If you guys want to, uh, that $235 million at the bottom of that item, is that new or is that additional services for the same type of service?
It talks about medical, dental, pharmacy, mental health, $235 million. And that's an addition. Is that correct? Go ahead. Thank you, Mr.
Speaker 12
44:48
Chair. Representative Ladyman, the original contract is approved
Speaker 11
44:52
for the agency to spend $235 million total on this contract over the life of the contract. So that's the total amount that you've approved. what you're reviewing today is amendment one to this contract and on the amendment they are not
adding any new funding they're just changing the scope of work on the contract so the verbiage listed in the contract to allow them to adjust the staffing matrix due to the closing in addition of facilities and to right size the staffing to fit the department of corrections needs so there's no money added to that total today. It just moves to $73 million.
Speaker 31
45:33
$73 million is the amount spent to date on that contract. But no funding added to this contract today.
Speaker 140
45:40
Alright, thank you. Senator Hester? Yes, is somebody from Wellpath here? On D8?
Speaker 142
46:14
just introduce yourself and Donna Gordon regional vice president for well path David Thompson
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
46:19
president for well path thank you so first I want to applaud and say I very much appreciate these resources that coming at no additional cost or resources that are very much needed in our Department of Corrections I mean with our suicide rates and all of this is this is this is great I'm glad we're getting this added in I appreciate that night and I look forward to voting for this contract in just a second but I do have a concern that I just because you're here I want to continue to to reiterate uh you know um um we asked last time you were here could you look it's a billion dollar
contract you're not using any in-state people for any portion of it could you work on that my understanding is well you did you told us you'd work
on it come back there's no one in the
Speaker 144
47:16
state of arkansas worthy of working for you that's my understanding well no what what we did senator was we undertook as we promised an internal RFP process request for proposals we reached out to about 70 different vendors in Arkansas Arkansas based vendors various areas of expertise and attempted to ask them to bid or propose for services working with us we only ended up out
of those 70 with three vendors and that was for a pharmacy bid so unfortunately we couldn't identify additional in-state, but as we've said, roughly 69% of all costs on this contract stay within Arkansas, whether that's staffing, whether that's
Speaker 149
47:55
subcontractors that currently work within Arkansas. Yeah, I understand pharmacy is part
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
48:01
of this, and there's many others. I
hope you know this is, I know it's reoccurring, but it's 10 one-year contracts ultimately. Right. I
I hope before next year you found a way to find some vendors from Arkansas for some area. But anyway, thank you again. I appreciate this amendment. Haven't loved this contract overall, but this amendment is something very well needed.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
48:28
Thank you. Senator Gilmore. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you. I appreciate our conversations we've had. Again, I want to reiterate where I think a lot of the membership is in this. this this contract has brought a lot of consternation with members for some of the
reasons that you've heard him state we appreciate what you're doing here but i hope you heed a lot of what you're hearing in trying to accommodate the requests that are being made uh i have confidence that you're you're going to try to do that because again we we are doing business with you guys um and i just hope that again you you hear that and so uh look forward to this contract going through today because we need the services we had a hearing yesterday that identified a lot of the issues with inmate deaths a lot of that's associated with suicides so we need
the services we need to address those issues but again please listen thank you representative baby
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
49:30
thank you mr chairman i'm over here i just want to make the point that well past
what an 11 or 12 year vendor with the state. So we have an established history here. I understood when you were asked by Senator Hester about the attempt and some of the requests that this body made of you to seek out Arkansas vendors to provide some of the services. Could you
state how many actually reached out to and that responded back? Did you say 70? Could you clarify that number for us uh
Speaker 157
50:06
a lot three four of those were pharmacy vendors there were 50 something or 40 something um optometry uh people that we reached out to a couple of x-ray vendors and i don't have the list here with me today but there was there was in a dialysis
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
50:25
company as well so you had several arkansas vendors that you that you reached out to that replied back that that were interested in in doing business what was the greatest obstacle to them doing business with well path was it something that well path something with the company or what was
Speaker 146
50:44
the biggest obstacle that you heard from
Speaker 157
50:46
those vendors the biggest optical obstacle was that the um especially with the optometrist they either wanted to do a portion of the contract or
they wanted to do they wanted us to bring the prisoners on site which is really not an option for us because we provide roughly 600 eye exams a month so getting all of those people to keep them safe we try to do that in-house so anything that we can do inside the walls of the prison is is for the safety of, of the community. And, uh, that was their biggest obstacle there. Um, the pharmacy contract was put out to bid. And so we put out an actual RFP for that. Um,
and that determination, I can let David speak more to that, but, uh, the other than there were several that just weren't interested
Speaker 142
51:35
at all. They didn't like the idea of going and dealing with our prison inmate population. So would you
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
51:41
say just, uh, I heard what you said just to make certain that I understood what you said and members of this committee understand the biggest obstacle to Arkansas vendors or businesses doing business with WellPath to fulfill the contract needs were basically they didn't want to come to the prison to fulfill
those duties not a decision that WellPath made but a decision that these business and service providers in the state made evidently clear that they didn't want to come to the prison to perform those duties. Am I correct in saying that? Yes, sir.
Speaker 42
52:18
Thank you. Are there any other questions? Seeing none,
Speaker 8
52:23
we'll go on to the in-state contracts, D6. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Speaker 11
52:30
Item D, page 43. You'll see the beginning of the in-state contracts. There are 45 contracts for your review. the first one is with asu and the communications group this is a sole source by justification contract it is detailed on page nine of your goldenrod packet this contractor will provide website development and management for the arkansas better beginnings website under the office of early childhood with the department of
Speaker 34
52:57
ed number two asu three rivers with washita nursery this is for lawn care for five asu locations number three department of agriculture
with custom air this is for aerial fire suppression services amendment two to an existing contract number four department of commerce division of workforce services this is sources for community independent planning services this is benefits planning services it's an original contract contracts number five through number seven are all with department of commerce state insurance department with different areas area agencies on aging
Speaker 11
53:36
and this is for services to medicare recipients that takes us over to page 47 in your d packet number eight is department of
Speaker 34
53:47
corrections division of community corrections with cornerstone ministry this is for comprehensive community-based treatment services it's a 10-bed female transitional housing facility in newport number nine department of corrections division of community corrections with covenant recovery this is another community-based
Speaker 11
54:07
treatment service location it is a five-bed male transitional housing facility in pine bluff number 10 division of community correction with quality living center this is for two transitional housing facilities in Little Rock that house 27 residents contracts number 11 through 14 are all with division of community
Speaker 34
54:29
correction with different service providers for community-based treatment services and
Speaker 11
54:36
they provide transitional housing to recipients that takes us over to page
D 49 and contract number 15 with the Division of Correction this
Speaker 34
54:48
is an amendment meant to an existing contract with Hill Services this is for crop hauling services in East Arkansas number 16 with the Department of Education the contract is with umbrella security solutions this is amendment 5 to an existing contract this is armed security services for their offices at number 2 Capitol Mall number 4 Capitol Mall and the Arkansas School for Deaf and Blind number 17 with Department of
Speaker 11
55:13
Education Arkansas School for the Deaf and Blind
with a plus hearing service incorporated this is audiology services for their students number 18 with the division of environmental quality with mechanical service company this is an original contract for contract service repairs and unscheduled service calls for their HVAC systems number 19 is with DFA revenue services with rock doc LLC this is for shredding services that takes us to item d page 51 contracts 20 and 21 are both with the department of health with the arkansas
rural water association these are both original contracts using epa capitalization grant funds for small public water system development and it's
Speaker 34
55:55
to assist those water systems with meeting drinking water regulations number 22 department of health with waste services incorporated this is waste removal for the arkansas department of health public
Speaker 11
56:10
laboratory number 23 dhs division of aging adults behavioral health with erisa health this is for comprehensive
substance abuse treatment services number 24 is on the next page also dhs division of aging adults and behavioral health with arkansas medical staffing llc this is for skilled nursing and and other medical personnel for the state hospital and other agency facilities. This takes us to page D53. And beginning on contract number 25, going to number 33, all of these contracts are amending existing contracts for substance abuse treatment services.
That takes us all the way over to page 57. Contract number 34 with DHS, Division of Aging Adults behavioral health with western arkansas counseling and guidance this is amendment five to an existing contract for medical detoxification services page d58 contract number 35 department of human services with division of children and family services this contract is with arkansas foundation for medical care this is a new original contract and it is to assist dcfs in compiling and completing foster
care packets for clients in the foster care system statewide contracts 36 and 37 are both with dhs dcfs and these are both for substance abuse services to dcfs clients number 38 dhs division of developmental disability services this contract is an original contract with baptist health and it is for occupational therapy and physical therapy at the archadelphia human development center
contract number 39 is with dhs dds as well it is with dr lawrence howell this is dental services at the conway human development center contracts 40 through 42 all with the department of parks heritage and tourism are with different vendors providing natural area vegetation management and plant community monitoring around the state that takes us to page 60 in item d contract 43 is with Division of Arkansas State Police and Delta Dental of Arkansas. This amends an existing
contract for the administration of the dental and vision insurance programs for the Arkansas State Police Uniformed Health Plan. Contract 44 is with U of A and Medical Waste Services. This is an original contract for the disposal of medical waste at the U of A Fayetteville. Contract 45, U of A Community College at Batesville with White River Health System. This amends an existing contract for mental health counseling services to UACCB students and employees.
Speaker 6
59:08
Mr. Chair. Representative Richardson, do you have a question for
Speaker 168
59:13
staff or the department? Probably for the department. Just to give you my question, I'm looking at number one, specifically communications. group, and I'm wondering, the justification for the sole source is associated with a website development that they've been doing business with for however many years, 14 years now.
I'm just curious why website development, considering that's a very open field, is necessary to have a sole source for a specific website. So I was just looking for more details,
Speaker 1
59:53
probably from the department. Anybody with Arkansas State University here? Representative,
Speaker 172
1:00:08
they're all... Is procurement here? Maybe they can answer.
Speaker 170
1:00:14
Procurement? Is procurement here? Greg, do you want to volunteer? No. Shane, come on down.
Speaker 175
1:00:53
something with this one, I think. Shane Broadway ASU system, my apologies. We just had the Secretary of Education
Speaker 44
1:01:01
leave the Saline County Career Center. So Representative Rich Richardson has a
Speaker 168
1:01:05
question for you. Yes, sir. This is Broadway right here. So, yeah, my question revolves around cell sourcing for this communications group, comm
group, for website development and why it requires a cell source for, and I'll tell you, you're kind of getting the brunt of a little bit of a build-up associated with so-sourced tickets and technology, or I should say contracts and technology that we've seen today and we've seen in the past. I'm concerned that we get ourselves locked into these particular organizations through website development or application development, which oftentimes
are fairly commonplace, and you would expect that based on who they are, they would be able to provide us the best cost because they've been involved in it, yet we still go with a sole source as if it's not necessary for us to review anybody else. So why would we need, in this particular case, for this particular contract, why would we need to stay with a sole source for website development? uh representative
Speaker 175
1:02:12
richardson i'm probably going to need to get back with you on this one this is
this is through our early childhood our childhood services part of the university which is a grant funded entity through the department of education so i may need to have a conversation and they're all either i don't see anybody here in saline county where i was And so this is separate from the university is what I'm trying to say. And it may be through the Department of Education as to why we're doing that. So let me look into that and report back to you.
Speaker 49
1:02:51
You can get that back to us before Friday? Yes, sir. Yeah. Excellent. I appreciate
Speaker 183
1:03:01
that. Thank you for the question. All right. Representative
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:03:07
Bentley. Thank you, Chairman. DHS. I'd have just DHS come to the table about the foster care packets on that contract number 35 introduce yourself hi good afternoon I'm Tiffany Wright I'm
Speaker 189
1:03:32
the director for the division of children and family
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:03:36
services could just give some more details on what this new contract is and what we're going to
do different uh with these packets that we're needing anyway just give us a few more details on that contract for
Speaker 189
1:03:47
the foster care packets that we're doing yes ma'am so part of um the work the division does in order to have permanency for children in foster care through adoption is we have to put together what we call adoption disclosure packets and we had previously had this work in a different contract under DHS but we had to pull this work out and so in an effort to get upstream to be able to
finalize adoption sooner we are starting at adjudication when the children are remaining in foster care longer than 30 days so we started it as a way to catch up and move children to permanency where we were delaying and now we're wanting to get further upstream in the foster care space and have these records together and this is all of the medical records for a child for their life until they finalize adoptions okay so she'll give those
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:04:34
folks more information actually ahead of time yes ma'am okay all right thank you thank
Speaker 63
1:04:40
you chairman I appreciate that representative Beatty thank you mr.
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
1:04:46
chairman department of Corrections when we get a
Speaker 197
1:05:08
chance introduce yourselves and you're recognized chad brown department of corrections
Speaker 199
1:05:17
jim cheek director division community correction
Speaker 201
1:05:19
chris honey uh community correction deputy director thank
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
1:05:28
you gentlemen my question is starting back and i guess contract eight on page 47 and and following down there there are several of these providers they're providing service for transitional housing and treatment facilities in the state and most of them they identify the number of beds and and
number of I guess inmates that can be serviced I think the information that I would like to have is kind of maybe what the average what's the right word I'm looking for occupancy are the the average for each one of these programs because each of them are a hundred percent state funded and we as we heard some yesterday and committee that there were open beds in one of the re-entry facilities.
I'm just wondering, are we taking full advantage of the opportunities that we're paying for here? So I'd like to know kind of what that average attendance has been in each of these, because these are all ongoing programs of the state, as well as if there are any savings for inmates to be housed at these facilities versus those inmates being housed behind the bars in one of our facilities. Yes,
Speaker 203
1:06:49
sir. Representative Zendt of Beatty, all these are transitional living beds.
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
1:06:53
These are not reentry beds. I understand they're
not reentry beds. Okay, so reentry beds we have in general. We're not
Speaker 203
1:07:02
talking about reentry. I'm wanting to know about these here. Well, these stay full. Okay. We allot approximately $2.5 million up to $2.75 million. So if you do the math, it's $25 a day that we pay the facilities. Now, there's rules that they have. If they get employed after two weeks, we don't pay any more. So it's approximately $300 a day throughout the state if you do the math throughout the year, and it comes out to about $2.7 million.
Okay. So these stay full at 100% occupancy. We have a
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
1:07:31
waiting list on these beds. A waiting list on these? We're working on a waiting list on reentry. Now we'll
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:07:42
talk about reentry. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Senator Hester. Yes, Chad, you were asked a question earlier about the McClellan contract. You went back, you said you weren't sure what it was, if it had anything to do with the new prison. Can you affirm that now?
Hopefully you checked on that in the 15 or 20 minutes. If I ask the question, is any part of this contract going to fund $1 towards a new prison, what's the answer to that question? Senator, this is
Speaker 75
1:08:11
one of two or three on-calls that we have in the department that we've had for years and years, long before I got here. We use this for regular upkeep needs that arise within the departments. We have over 28 facilities around the state. so these contracts are really geared towards those facilities and those needs that we have
so when it comes to the new prison i just can't answer that if that need comes up we'll address it when the need comes
Speaker 206
1:08:37
up but as of right now the needs for these on calls or this on call are for the 28 facilities that
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:08:44
have needs that need to be addressed so this contract is for
Speaker 7
1:08:49
the 28 existing facilities correct thank you any other questions got nothing in the queue thank you gentlemen
that's all senator rice do you want to to make a motion or are you good with the answer that was just given
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
1:09:27
or mr. chair i would still with what i heard i heard something about intent and then the last
deal was it's going to be used for the 28th i would still ask this v hell in light of other members questions uh until friday and i'm going
Speaker 7
1:09:48
to try to get with the department and talk to without objection we will hold d3 number two and i ask for
Speaker 6
1:09:57
a motion to uh to review all others all right motion by representative painter second
Speaker 7
1:10:06
by representative ferguson all in favor say aye
all opposed like son thank you motion passes so let's go on to e a1 thank you mr. chair members next you
Speaker 10
1:10:24
have your monthly report section I want to call your attention to item e1 this is a new monthly report that you'll be seeing
Speaker 11
1:10:33
it is provided by the office of state procurement and it's in compliance with action with Act 782 of 2025. Under this Act you all have required that the
Office of State Procurement provide a monthly report on their activities and implementing their rules relating to new procurement processes. This includes reporting how they are modifying their training and certification programs and training agency staff on these new procurement processes so here you'll see a list or report on their activities so far on the first page and then on the second page you will see the agencies that have enrolled in the trainings on
their new procurement processes so this is the first of a monthly report that you will see from here on out the remainder of the reports are what you're used to seeing they include service contracts amendments without material changes and
Speaker 42
1:11:37
executed contracts these are the reports mr. chair any questions
Speaker 7
1:11:48
on the reports seeing none all right I'll accept a motion
Speaker 6
1:11:52
to review review e1 through 3 second by
representative Ferguson all in favor say aye all opposed like sign thank you Members, see you next month.
Agenda
A. Call to Order - Comments from Chairs
B. Methods of Finance
C. Discretionary Grants
D. Services Contracts for Legislative Review/RFQ Approvals
E. Reports and Communications
G. Other Business
H. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Speaker 6
Speaker 7
Speaker 8
Speaker 11
Speaker 9
Speaker 16
Speaker 32
Speaker 34
Speaker 38
Speaker 26
Speaker 42
Speaker 46
Speaker 48
Representative Frances Cavenaugh
Unverified
Speaker 53
Speaker 27
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
Speaker 1
Speaker 5
Speaker 74
Speaker 75
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified
Speaker 85
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
Speaker 44
Speaker 95
Speaker 96
Speaker 40
Speaker 10
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
Speaker 114
Speaker 115
Speaker 123
Speaker 124
Don Adams
Unverified
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
Speaker 12
Speaker 31
Speaker 140
Speaker 142
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
Speaker 144
Speaker 149
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
Speaker 157
Speaker 146
Speaker 168
Speaker 172
Speaker 170
Speaker 175
Speaker 49
Speaker 183
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
Speaker 189
Speaker 63
Speaker 197
Speaker 199
Speaker 201
Speaker 203
Speaker 206