ALC-Review

so much. You know. All right, everybody, if you want to take your seats, we're gonna get this meeting started. I want to welcome everybody to the year-ending review subcommittee meeting. don't know about y'all, but I think that's a good thing. Looking for a couple of weeks off, but before we get started today, members do want to recognize Miss Cathy Schmidt. Cathy's going to be, is it like retiring actually or are you doing so are you actually gonna retire, Cathy Retiring from government is what I'm hearing. OK, full time, but with that I know uh Chairman Wardlaw and I, along with, you know, Chairman Rice, do have some citations and so we'reas Miss Cathy Schmidt is retiring on December 31st, 2024, yadda yada yada, blah blah blah, uh. Cathy, I'm not gonna read this thing out. We know how it goes. But I want to thank you. I have served as a co-chair of this committee for the past 7 years. Um, and what I can still remember it's been, you have an aged a bit. Um, but I'll tell you what, your professionalism has been unparalleled. You've been a great colleague, but you've been a great friend. And more importantly, you have shown me the ins and outs of procurement laws and all the nuances and things that Jeff never wanted to really take the time to show me. You've been great and I just want to tell you on behalf of your grateful state. Thank you so much for your service. apply for So So I'm gonna take a minute to do this because. When I was a 2nd termer, I took the position of review chair uh chairman and was nervous as all get out because the first time I ever run a committee was in this room with Miss Cathy Schmidt to my left, and I can tell you guys, there is nobody. That knows the contracts of state government the way Miss Cathy Smith knows them. Not only does she know him, she knows every increment piece of them and the people that helped procure them. And that's very important when you chair a committee like review, and I can't tell you how much you prepared me for what it made me as a member going forward and I can't tell you how much I appreciate working with you. Thank you. Yes Now I get to say a few words, Cathy. Uh, you, you haven't already said? Oh, no, no, no. Oh, less, come on up here, Les. Cathy's retirement at the end of the year less, you don't wanna say anything. Congratulations. Thank you. Les is a man of few words. At least it wasn't yay. I had to put that in there for you. She, she was giving me grief over the yadda yada yada inside joke. All right, Miss Cathy. I know you're not one for formal words, so, uh, if you just wanna get started. Let's let's do it. I guess I have to turn my mic on. OK. Before we do get started, I do want to say thank you, um, I have really enjoyed working, uh, for this committee, uh, for this organization for BLR, and it was hard to make a decision to actually retire, but, uh, it's been a pleasure, and I thank you all so much. And now we're gonna start out with the methods of finance for the last time, I'm going to present them for you. Uh, we're starting in the Back on a scale of 1 to 10, how excited are you about this being the last time? Um, pretty big.11. All right, Kathy, take it away. Uh, starting with the methods of finance in, uh, your agenda packet B on page one is the letter from DFA, uh, sending over the methods of finance on the next page, you'll see a chart that has the individual uh projects listed. The first one is for Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and Arts. It's for their maintenance building and wood shop. It's a multi-purpose facility at $2,250,000 and they have reserve. serves to cover the funding of this. Next you have the Arkansas State Police for the security system replacement at the governor's mansion, um, this is primarily funded with ARPA funds, um, and it is being revised to 1,455,000297, and, um, the next one also for the state police, also using some ARPA funding is for the barracks facility at Camp Robinson. Uh, this will be the The facility that will house the troop school recruits and the driving track trainees. They say that it's going to be 200 beds and include a classroom. They're revising that method of finance to $24.2 million. Next number 4 is Arkansas State University at Jonesboro. This is for parking services renovation of the Wesley Foundation Student Center, a little over $970,000. They report that they have university reserves for this and uh, we have UA Fayetteville number 5 at the bottom of page 2. This is for the purchase of property at 501 North Wilson, and this is $975,000 the agency reports that they have university reserves for the project on the next page, another one for UA Fayetteville. This is the Maple Hill Residence Hall, Central site, and they are revising this to $40 million. This is covered with student services, housing reserves. Number 7 is UCA for various property acquisitions, $1 million capital reserves, 8 starts several for UAMS. The first one is the Monroe Building, uh, roofing replacement $67,570,000. Uh, this is going to be covered with health resources and services administration grants, uh, UAMS for the Monroe Building, another one, this is for the mechanical engineering and uh plumbing up. updates for that building, a little over $2.3 million and they have federal reimbursement for that project. Then you have UAMS, uh, the Ward Tower operating room 14 remodeling, and they're installing a ceiling mounted, uh, imaging equipment. This is going to be a little over $3.2 million. They note that they have a capital lease, um, as well as UAMS reserves, that capital lease is for that imaging equipment and it'll actually be funded using clinical revenues number 11, uh, also for UAMS is the patient tower, and again, they are, uh, in er are gonna receive a new CT scanner. So this is a $1.8 million and again, they are noting that they have capital lease, which again will be covered by clinical reserves as well as their UAMS revenues to cover the project and then on page 4, we have uh UAMS patient Tower 2. And this is a project to replace end of year imaging equipment, $9.7 million again, that's a capital lease using clinical revenues to fund and UAMS revenues and finally UAMS, uh, ward inpatient pharmacy dispensing area, 889,612 and the agency reports they have reserves to cover that. That's all the methods of finance on today's agenda. All right, members, you've heard the explanation. Of the MOFs, are there any questions from members of the committee? All right, so you know questions without objections, these items will stand as reviewed. Mr. Chairman, the next item is an alternative delivery construction project. This is a construction project over $5 million and this is for the Arkansas Department of Education. It is for the school for the blind and visually impaired in Arkansas School for the Deaf, um, square footage, they're unsure of at this time, uh, but, uh, they have funding that's been provided, uh, through, uh, designations from the governor's office. They're estimating the construction costs to be somewhere. around $65 million in the uh procurement process they received 8 contractor proposals, they interviewed 5 of those contractors and selected NABelt's construction and SCM architects, uh, for the professional design services. They estimate to have this project completed in end of October in 25, and that's the only alternative delivery construction project. All right, members, you've heard an explanation of the contract or any questions from the committee. All right, so no questions without objection. This item will stand as reviewed. The next time on the agenda, Mr. Chairman, are grants, and we have grants today from 3 different agencies. The first one is the health department. The first one, and these are both funded by state general revenue dollars. Uh, the first one is to implement the preventative health screening, Health education activities, and the second one is to employ community health workers for the purpose of supporting its health health screenings, health education and outreach immunizations and other screenings that take place through their mobile unit program. Um, then on the next page on D2, uh, starts the DHS grants, the first ones are amendments to existing grants, uh, numbers 1 through 3, and these are gonna be to assist homeless individuals with a serious mental illness defined and obtained adequate housing that takes us over to page 3, grant number 4 for DHS and this is, um, an amendment for an addiction recovery support center, number 5 is an amendment to a grant. partner with local schools and colleges, and this is to provide youth access to sports training, health and fitness programs, and other extracurricular activities to help prevent delinquent behavior during after school hours. Number 6 at the bottom of that page is to provide after school, academic and enrichment support to academically at-risk students in the Glenville, Glenview community. On the next page, number 7 is an agreement, uh, for an amendment to the grant that they have. for the youth restoration and remodeling initiative, uh, the next is for Tama federal funding to support the children's advocacy centers of Arkansas. Number 9 is to physically restore a unit within this current Arkansas State Hospital as well as design and operate a secured restoration program as part of their forensic system improvement initiative on the next page number 10 through 15, the these grants are all gonna be new federal grants to provide victim-centered trauma informed and evidence-based services to children and adults who are experiencing human trafficking. And that takes us over to number 16 on page 7, the final one for DHS is for job training program designed to enhance the employability of youth and prepare them for future employment, and then we, the last group of grants come from the Arkansas Beef Council, which is part of the agriculture department and they um have two grants. The first one is to increase the promotion of beef to consumers and the education. nutrition of beef to youth and school districts, and the next one is to continue the beef in the classroom program to Arkansas schools via grants to family and consumer science teachers and awarded school districts, and those are all the grants today on the agenda, Mr. Chairman. All right, members, you've heard an explanation. Are there any questions from the members of the committee. All right, see no questions without objection, these items will stand as reviewed, Mr. Chairman, the next thing on the agenda are contracts, and we're going to start out the ePacket with a letter from, um, Jessica Patterson, the state procurement director, and on this letter, uh, she notes that there are 2 agencies that are seeking ratification of contracts. One of them is the Department of Military that it will have two contracts on here, uh, with Kentucky and. in Louisiana, and I plan to explain more about the ratification needs when we get to the contracts. The 3rd 1, the 2nd agency, is Arkansas Geographic Information Systems, uh, with computer aid incorporated, and again, I'll explain those when we get to those contracts. Uh, she notes that, uh, all the other contracts presented appear to uh to have been procured, not in violation of any Arkansas procurement law and then there's also a ar. That is provided for the committee. This has to do with original RFPs that are on today's review agenda and noting the ones, the procurement method that they used, uh, using the map or the traditional in the procurement of these requests for proposals. So that's, uh, takes us over to page 3. On page 3 is the letter to the military department has provided concerning their ratification of their contract, um, on page 4. is the letter from military for the contract with Louisiana and then on page 5 is the letter for the ratification of the GIS office, and again, I'll provide that detailed information when we get to it. We'll start with construction-related contracts, these are the first contracts on the agenda. The first one is, uh, number one, and we're on page 9. It's the Department of Veterans Affairs, and this is for expansion of the North Little Rock Cemetery face. The next one is uh University of Arkansas for parking study that's an amendment to an existing contract. The next one, University of Arkansas is for professional design services for, uh, student housing project, Maple Hill, number 4 is University of Arkansas, and this is for funding on-call commissioning services, number 5 is UA Pulaski Tech, uh, on call roofing services, um, number 6 and 7 are both for. UAMS and these are on call professional services for architectural and architectural engineering services, and then number 8 on page 11, this is for architectural and engineering services for UAMS, uh, in order to renovate vacant areas in their Jonesboro Regional Program. Those are all the construction-related contracts. All right, um, before we go on on that, I do want to jump back, um, to, I think it was E5. Do we have somebody from Shared Services here? I just want, uh, just a quick explanation. I've had a few members ask me about this with the uh CIA staff augmentation and What was going on? It seems like we had something, you know, recently with that similar with the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff, I believe. Cathy was just something. Was it the last meeting? But other way, if you go ahead and give your name and your position for the record. I like Oh, I miss, oh, we got a new. Let me see here, is it? Yeah, are you. Witness I turn them up. I know how to work this. So we got a log, we got a log witnesses and when they come down there each time. OK. Uh. James Caldwell, CFO for TSS. Uh, it's my understanding that we had a contract with CAI in place, that contract expired, but there was still money left on the purchase order and my staff didn't catch that the contract expired and the way the system set up, it still let us spend since that money was on the purchase order. So now we're That's why we're coming now to get it ratified because we realized that we didn't have the contract and then we've also got another contract on the agenda for going forward. OK, do y'all have like a protocol in place in your policies, procedures to like for notified prior to a contract expiring, so you know 6 months out, this is up for we've, so I just recently promoted, uh, somebody to be over our procurement, probably about 2 months ago and then. Part of that we're working now, we've, we've started notifying each of the divisions when their contracts get to about 120 days out. So we've got a report now that goes out every month. OK, and is that, is that, is that 120 days? Is that the same for all contracts or OK. OK. Alright, members and, uh, Senator Gilmore, let me figure out, oh. Are you on over there, buddy? OK. Alright, Alrighty, you really cannot leave, clearly. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I, I guess I have some of the similar questions that you've already been asked by the chairman. Uh, so I guess what I'm trying to figure out is you didn't know the contract had expired before you. Issued payment? is that what I'm hearing? Uh, I believe so, yes. OK. It was, it was discovered, brought to our attention, and we immediately notified OSP. OK. OK, um, and we, we stopped the work at the same time. As soon as we were notified, we stopped, we notified the vendor to stop working until we get a contract in place and the new contract is on this agenda. It is. And is it for the remainder of the work or is it an extension going forward of additional work. I believe it's a new. Contract for the same thing at, uh, Shelby Johnson can talk more to the contract. It, it's for the work we do for the 911 board. OK. Hold on, Senator Gilmore. He's got some. Reinforcements coming up here. OK, it's Cathy tells me it's for new work also and it goes back for expenses that they were unable to pay. All right. Good Good afternoon, Shelby Johnson GIS. Shelby, see, can you just hit the Roy, can he hit just the micro the button in front on the microphone in front of him. Yeah, OK, yeah, just hit the button on yours. There you go. Back at the login screen. If you want to turn yours off maybe. You try that. Yeah Who who procured the new system? I think. I don't know for Representative Jean, is this your handiwork? OK, yeah, uh, you know, so the House budget chair. I know you signed off on something. Good afternoon, Shelby Johnson GIS, uh, Senator Gilmore, that's a part of a, a long project that we're working on, on behalf of the, uh, 911 board and it's to do all of the data processing to prepare for the next generation 911 system. And we started that project in 2020 and we're still working on that project. And, uh, I can answer any additional questions about the project if you have any other questions. Yeah, so I guess just what is this work entail? Uh, because I think your letter stated that you didn't have the manpower or something along those lines, I may be incorrect on that. Yes, sir. We're working with. All of the, uh, County 911 systems to convert all of their backend data into a geographic information system format. That's how the future system will be driven and the goal there is to avoid, uh, call transfers at the local level, uh, it's enabling your mobile device to share its location with the call when a call is made and in order for that system to work, we must build all of the back end data that has all the map information and so, uh, we only have a staff of 4 that are assigned that are full-time state employees that are assigned on that project and because we were going to be working with all 75 counties. We just didn't have enough bandwidth to cover it all. So we're using that staff augmentation to bring a couple of folks in to assist us with that. And the, the two folks that were working on this particular project, that were assigned on Crittenden, Mississippi, and Ashley County, and then Pulaski County and Cleveland County. So, uh, that held us up for about 3 or 4 weeks on those counties and the work we're doing there. How much, how much more time do you anticipate on that? It's, it's, it ebbs and flows, uh, and part of that's a function of, uh, local changes that happen at the local level. We're, uh, this contract is running out until June 30, 2026, and we're optimistic that we'll complete it before then, uh, but we want to keep the contract in place until the end of that, uh, June 30 and, uh, 26. Thank you, thank you Mr. Chair. All right. Coach is All right. Coach, and gentleman on the, on my right, I forget your name, but, um, did you say you have something in place now to, uh, catch when contracts are going to expire so we don't run into this again. Yes, yes, I have a procurement manager now for all of TSS and that person, one of their responsibilities is to every month run a report of all expiring contracts in there when the dates are so that we can then get it out to all of our division directors and let them know these are what you have coming up and we need to start working on them now. OK, I think that'd be a good start. Thank you for that. Representative. All right. Golly. Somebody had had a question in quite some time, Representative Frank Kavanaugh, on in, Fran. Thank you, Mr. Trip. I think I'm not sure about that, but my question is when you notice that this contract had expired, we had the same issue with UAPB last month, um, did you check to see what other contracts that you might have had that are expired, that you may be under the same problem with or about to be under the same issue with, currently we don't have any that are expired. We have some that are expiring soon, and she, we did send out emails within a couple of days of discovering this to all the directors. With anything that's gonna expire within the next 120 days. OK, but I mean we don't have any others are gonna loom because UHCB we've got a, a bit of a money to pay back. And do we know across the The state, all the agencies have, they implemented similar procedures or are we kind of willy nilly each agency is doing what they want to do. I can speak to is that I know OSP sent out a bulletin, I believe today or yesterday with instructions on how to run the expiring contract report to all agencies, but past that, I don't know what the different departments have implemented. If we could ask Mr. Chair, if we could ask OSP that question because I think it's an important issue. You would think that once we had it last month. They are coming. You didn't think we're gonna let you get through the whole meeting, Jessica, did you? OK Jessica Patterson, um, state procurement director, yes, like James said we sent out, um, a bulletin, uh, yesterday explaining to all the, um, to all the procurement departments across all state, uh, to all the procurement, um, divisions across all state departments, um, reminding them how to run a report to check for their contracts that are set to expire, um, and to track, um, when, when they're going to expire and how many days out that they are. In addition, because we have had multiple, um, of ratifications come up in the past few months. Um, we're working to develop some additional training, um, that we can, um, put out to all the departments to help them with their contract management. OK? How can we just waited until or this week or something to do it when we had the same problem out of UAPB last month. Why did we wait a month? Well, I didn't realize until after UAPB that we were going to have these additional ones, but, um, now that we've identified that this is a, a problem beyond just UAP. that, um, we, we are working to address it. And is there someone in your organization that will be looking at this also, so in case we do have an agency that is not running the report. We've got a backup, so if they case, it's gonna happen. So we don't currently have a system in place to run, um, to check, to do all the reports for all of their agents, for all the different departments, because they are responsible for managing their own contracts. It's really up to the departments to run the report themselves to see if they have any. contracts that are set to expire, um, but we, of course, can, as the central office can provide training to teach them how to do that and, um, and, you know, remind them to do it regularly, OK, but we don't have anybody in your office that can run the reports just as a backup plan, as these things continue to happen. We don't, we don't have a, uh, uh, to my knowledge, we don't have an ability to do that statewide. OK, thank you. Thank you, Representative. All right, see no further questions. You are dismissed. Thank y'all. All right, then Bruce, so without seeing any other questions on the construction-related contracts without objection, those items will stand as reviewed. Mr. Chairman, the last, uh, the next item or intergovernmental contracts. These are contracts between agents, state agencies. The first one is DHS with UAMS and this is for design and evaluation of family first services and Prevention Act services. Number 2, this is the Department of Military. This is the one I said, uh, was one of the two for, uh, ratification, uh, for the military, and they note that, um, they. Back in July, uh, they closed down the Youth Challenge program in early July, and they had a class of 50 cadets that were signed up for the next program and so they contacted the Kentucky program, and they were willing to take up to 30 applicants from Arkansas, 27 were accepted and 25 started on July 22nd due to the timing of all of this, a contract agreement was delayed and being processed, so this. is a contract agreement going back to July 1, 24 for $150,000 that would be the ratification recommendation from this committee if you agreed on it. The next one, number 3, also for the Department of Military, the same thing, uh, the closing down of the Youth Challenge program in July, the 50 cadets, they were trying to place the Louisiana program agreed to take 25 applicants, uh, 12 were accepted and started their program on August 18. Uh, so on this one, the military has done a an agreement with the um Louisiana for $75,000 and again this goes back to July 23rd when their program began. Those are all the intergovernmental contracts on today's agenda. Alright, ma'am, are there any questions from members of the committee? All right, so no questions and without objection, these items will stand as reviewed. Mr. Chairman, the next group of contracts are out of state contracts. The first one is the Department of Agriculture. This is for natural resources and uh this is an amendment to the contract they have for financial management and loan and grant servicing software. 2 is for an armed security guard services for Department of Commerce, Arkansas rehab Services, number 3 on the next page is for vocational rehab, physical report, uh, review and reconciliation, number 4. Department of Education. This is with the National Center for Grow Your Own. Uh, this particular new contract was done as a sole source justification. So in the green packet today, your letter is concerning this contract and um the the organization provides technical assistance needed to develop a registered apprenticeship program for special education teachers and the Walton Family Foundation provided the funds for this, and they. are restricted to use this vendor for that project, so OSP agreed to the cello justification on this project. Number 5 through 7, these are all going to be contract amendments for division of career A for adult workforce diploma program, number 8 is for Department of Finance Administration Management Services. Uh, this is for the he's maintenance and support program, number 9, the Department of Health for tumor registrar Education and Training Services. Number 10 on the next page is for, um, Uh, for providing a drinking water analysis, number 11 is for tumor registry quality assurance for the Arkansas Central Cancer Registry Services, number 12 is to continue implementation of systems integrator and integrated eligibility and benefits management. This is for DHS number 13, a DHS one for providing Medicaid and other human services procurement support, that's a new contract for them, number. Uh, 14 is to recruit, hire and train, uh, eligible specialists dealing with clearing of the Medicaid application backlog and to support DHS with staff to process ongoing cases, number 15 is for asset verification for DHS number 16 is for eligibility operations support number 17 is a new contract for their psychological examiner services for the Conway Human Development Center. Number 18, uh, this is the contract they have for prior authorization and retrospective review services for Medicaid, uh, number 19 is a contract DHS has. It's an original contract for health insurance premium payment program assisting number 2 and we're on page 21. This is DHS, uh, this is non-emergency transportation services, they're going to be more of these over in the in-state, number 21, uh, this is the contract we were. talking about that, uh, Arkansas Geographic Information Systems Office has with computer aid Incorporated. This is the other contract, uh, being, uh, needing ratification, they are requesting to go back to November 1st, 24, and as they stated earlier, this new contract will run through June 30th of 26, and they have noted that they requested ratification of services, uh, for providing GIS processing and support the 911. Board, um, the GIS full-time employees as they noted are augmented with staffing through this cooperative contract with CAI and the existing contract expired in September, but they had money left on the uh existing contract that they were able to play some of the expenses, um, when they found out that the uh that the contract and the expenses, uh, they'd run out, work was stopped and this contract includes the balances they noted earlier, plus services. through June of 26th. Moving on to the next page number 22 is for janitorial services at the BG Hendricks building, and this is for building authority, number 23 is for launching for student success planning system that's for, uh, division of information systems, um, University of Arkansas has a contract uh number 24, and this is, uh, an amendment for their UAF marketing cloud project, number 25 is, uh UA for water purification system, service and maintenance, uh, number 26 is an amendment to an existing contract for education, transformations, uh, project, number 27, uh, this is a security services for the Arkansas School for Math Sciences, uh, campus, and number 28 is for grant writing services for federal and state grants, that's for UA Pulaski Tech. Those are all of the out of state contracts on today's. agenda. Alright. Representative Kavanaugh. You're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My first question, I have several multiple? Yes. You're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My first question, I have several multiple thank. Where's that that, uh, mine is for the division of career and technical Education. We'll start there. enthusiasm, Greg. Yeah. At least fame like you're happy to be here. Grillam, Representative Gavinal. Greg Rogers, Department of Education. Courtney Salas Ford, Department of Education. Thank y'all. This is gonna be your contract number 56, and 7. And they were like with graduation Alliance, graduation solutions and respond to vet in Arkans Arkansas, and it talks about like it's for amendment to an existing or it says adult workforce diploma program. Can you tell me exactly, they're all $750,000. And so I'm trying to figure out what they are. So this is the adult diploma program that was, um, created last session, um, we're required to do an RFQ to identify vendors that can offer this type of program to adults who want to go back and get their high school diploma, um, and so each one is approved, but they get paid based on completion of certain courses or certifications and on the number of students who receive diplomas. So that 750,000 is the maximum. they could receive, but again, they only get paid based on the number of students who actually complete the program, um, so for FY 24, we had 71, um, and so the, the total expenditure was $383,250 and for, for FY 25 to date, um, there's been 134 for a total of $480,000. OK, and so you don't know which. vendors going to provide this service, so you do 750 for each one of them. What is the total I'm sorry. Yeah, what's the total that we have budgeted for the program. 750,000 total. It's up to the students to pick which program they want to go to. OK, and so There's no, and I'm just asking this for staff since we're, we're approving a contract for 750,000 for each one of these. Theoretically, they can pay them up to 750,000, but they could also pay the other one up to 750,000. So are we really approving 750,000 for the program or we proven 1.7. I believe their appropriation is only for $750,000. It could go to one vendor or it can be spread out over the 3, but it can't go more than 750,000. OK, do you have a mechanism that's going to let you know when you reach that 750, so you don't pay somebody. The reason I'm trying to say is we've had no mechanism to catch when a contract was expiring. So how do we have a mechanism in place to make sure that we're not gonna be overpaying on these. Uh, yes, ma'am. We have one person who's in charge of this program, and each time that we. allowed adults into the program, we are tracking the adults and where they are in that program, so we're keeping an overall spreadsheet if you will, so we know who's in which program and how much we're going to spend on them to make sure we stay within the 750,000. OK, I'm glad that you got one person looking at it, but you got a backup plan if something happens to that one person. Yes, it still goes through finance, and they just wanna make sure because sometimes having one person can be a blessing, but it can be a, a problem also, so it's still reconciled, yes ma'am. OK. Um, that's all I have for them, Mr. But but I do have some. Questions for DHS. I got, uh, tell you what, once you get back in the queue got representative Bentley here. Representative Bentley, thank you, Chairman. DHS and I've got as well questions for DHS up here. Good afternoon, Laurie McDonald DHS. Sarah Cunningham, DHS. Good afternoon, ladies. This, uh, uh, contract number 13. If you guys could just give me a little more specific on exactly what we're doing with that money. That's really what my question is, just a little more specifics on what we're doing with that money on contract number 13, please. Yes, ma'am. That money is for procurement support. For a couple of our, um, Well, several of our more complex solicitations, so specifically Medicaid Enterprise or Complex IT solicitations that our staff does not have the expertise or experience to be able to properly build a solicitation to garner the best results, uh, for contracts or to get the best, uh, vendor pool. I don't know if I explain that. Well, but let me know. So we're Let me get this correctly, so we're providing someone to help you guys gather funds because you don't have the expertise to gather those funds currently with our current staff. So I guess to clarify they're not gonna be gathering funds. The services that they will be providing. Will be to support our staff, um, so typically I have solicitation staff who can put together solicitations, but this contractor will be doing is working specifically on the, um, more complex solicitations like Medicaid Enterprise as well as, uh, other complex IT solicitations that we don't have the expertise to provide. Could you just give me one example? Uh, yes, ma'am. So, um, a couple of the projects that we had listed for bidders to respond to would be Medicaid Enterprise, Decision Sport System, as well as the Medicaid Enterprise Corp system. So we're going to have to reprocure those components of our MMIS system as required by CMS, um, And as a result, those are very complex Medicaid related IT solutions that we are so we have solicited to have, uh, a procurement support consultant brought in who has experience with other states such as Indiana, uh, Tennessee, and the, and similar Medicaid Enterprise Systems or MMIS systems or procuring, procuring those specific types of systems that we don't have the experience or expertise on our staff. Yeah, let me jump in here real quick. Is, is this a new contract? Yes. OK. OK, thank you. I'll get more questions offline. Thank you. Alright, Representative Kavanaugh. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is gonna be for division of county operations. I thought you said DHS. It is their division of county. Now, do you have a question or questions? But Questions. All right. All right, Ms. Murray, your mic should be working. Good afternoon, Mary Franklin, Department of Human Services Division of County operations. Thank you so much. um, this is gonna be on your, it's our contract 14 and 16. It's the automated health systems and maximus Health Services Incorporated. When I'm looking at this, it, it sounds like an automated that you're going to be using this company for employees, is that correct? We will be using them, uh, yes, for eligibility support to help us with, uh, Medicaid casework. Right, but it's actual people. Workers It's just, it's just I have workers. Yes, they will be doing that with, with staff that they hire to to complete the work. Well then, what is Maximus doing then? So Maximus is currently doing that for us, and, um, CMS required us to do a competitive bid. We had hired Maximus through a cooperative agreement, so it it met all state requirements and CMS approved us to use them temporarily but required us to do a competitive bid for eligibility support. And automated health systems one that procurement and so we are on boarding them, but in the meantime, we are keeping Maximus as we transition the new vendor in, we'll begin transitioning Maximus out. We just don't want to be without the support in the interim to make sure that we can keep our Medicaid work flowing and, and as current as possible during the time. OK, so, This keeping Maximus on lines costing us $18 million versus the person that actually won the bid. We, um, In the Maximus amendment I did request the time for a full year, but we only added funding expecting to keep them through June. If we need to keep them longer, we'll come back if we need to add funds, we'll come back, but in the automated health systems, what you're seeing is potentially the total projected cost over a seven-year contract, and with the, the first year potentially being up to 36 million. Right. So, but if you add the 36 and the 18 that we're gonna be paying, we're paying $504 million for this service. A year. Am I not correct in that? Yes, that would be correct if we, if we spend the entire amount on both contracts. OK. And have we historically spent the maximum? So we, we have historically spent. About 36 million on, on Maximus alone. We have also had additional support through the Deloitte As contract, uh, for some support. I don't have that specific number of how much we have spent on that, but those amendments also came through reviews, um, but we are no longer using them for surge support. We are using Maximus and then on boarding this new vendor that won the procurement. And how long do you expect you're gonna have to Maximus and both cause you got double the people, so that's why I'm so I um. The I anticipate keeping Maximus through June to give this new vendor time to onboard, hire staff, train staff, and for that staff to become proficient to, to, to carry the full load of work that the contractor's been doing, um, but. We will see how that goes and if we do need to add more money or. So is the 18 million through June or is it through the end of December 25 I would anticipate spending through June, OK? Because your contract says 18 million amendment for 1231, 2025. So you're saying that that really is only 8, that 18 million only takes you through June. But you could anticipate coming back and having to add more. So I guess I'm trying to say, how are we saving money when we're having to have two vendors do the same thing because we've done a procurement, which is fine, but we're saying that the one that won the bid isn't proficient enough to do it, so we're gonna keep paying the old one too. So I think in the in the short term while we're on boarding the vendor, we aren't saving money yet, but this new vendor, when they are able to fully take over the work, it is a lower cost than what we have been paying. previously how much? Well 36 million for one year, and I will say that. Um That is For the first year, we are asking this vendor to provide the maximum number of employees just because of this transition and the concern with, um, Getting behind on work, we don't want that to happen. I don't expect to use the maximum that we have, uh, potential for in this contract every year, but I have asked for them to prepare to do that the first year, but this, uh, This vendor. And I, we can come back with actual numbers, but the what we will spend on automated health as far as the per worker is lower than what we have been paying between Maximus and Deloitte, but we do need the help the help from Maximus, if you could tell me you're saying that this automated is actually less than what it would have been if you can get to staff, how much we paid on the other contract so I can compare it to that because I understand we're having to have, but we've done. a competitive process, but the, but the people that won the competitive process can't hit the ground going, so we're having to pay additional one and it's the same thing with outdated software when you're up over a barrel with them, they charge you for that. You usually are the ones that's on the, you get. You know, you get screwed, to be honest with you. So, um, if you could get me that information, I'd appreciate it. Yes ma'am. All right, Mary, yeah, if you can just get that to, to Cathy, uh, before the 31st of December. Uh, she can disseminate that to the rest of the members. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Representative Richardson, you are recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to circle back to, uh, contract number 13, uh, that representative Bentley was asking about. So just help me understand again. Have we talked to uh the Department of Shared Services on this contract for looking at the project, uh, a project management within their group, um, the DIS it's there. Have they been involved in this entire process and and from a procurement perspective is, is. Shared services, procurement involved in that as well? Um I guess in terms of involving them on the, the contractor or on the contract. Sorry, can I get some clarity from you? Sure, you said you're, you're looking to get a, as I understood it, a project manager to help you. That's not true? You're shaking your head, so give me, help me understand what's going on. I guess I would probably qualify that as a as a a project manager with specialization in solicitation development, um, and experience in pulling in together different stakeholders of scope requirements, um, and going through all of the steps of building a procurement, um, for such complex projects that I've mentioned probably ad nauseam, but I don't know if that helps. I mean, not really. I mean this is, it's still project management scope management, scope uh, uh, design and development, right? Sure, and Missy Eubanks, Deputy Secretary for Operations and Budget DHS. So, when we first procured these two services back in, we really started that process and in 2011, 2012, and then we were successful in contracting with current DSS and, um, Enterprise and then since then we've done a special procurement in between and state. is aware that we're gonna need to go out and competitively bid, but even when we did these procurements previously, we had a similar vendor partnered with us, so they do not only just the project management and the scope, but they do a great deal of the actual, um, authorship of the solicitation, they know Arkansas solicitation, um, law as you may be familiar with the contractor Iasso Consulting, and we've partnered with them on other complex, um, procurements in the recent past, whether that's with the independent assessment or other things, but again, they just help shore up our, um, office of procurement and the work that we do and then make sure that through contract negotiation, we get the best price, uh, for the state of Arkansas. And I appreciate outside uh resources providing gaps when we have so I'm gonna, I'm gonna weigh in here for a second. I have lots and attitude, but numbers just so that we do get out of here before New Year's. Um, I'm gonna ask that we keep these questions specific to how these contracts were procured. That is the purview of this committee. So if there's a question that regards specifically to make sure that these contracts were procured in a way that are in line with our state procurement laws, knock yourselves out. Outside of that, priests try, you know, get these questions answered offline. I do want to extend a little bit of latitude, but there's always gonna be another questionnaire, questionnaire, question, and, um, Representative Richardson, you're not the. while I'm just interrupting you, just to make sure to send the signal to other members that, um, let's try to keep it to the contract itself, if there's a question beyond that, work with the agency if you can't get that answer, come to us and we can help you with that. I, I appreciate that, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the, uh, the latitude, and I, I guess where I was going with the question is, um, the, the process, as I understand it, is that it has to go through, um, the, the shared services procurement, um, and I was just wondering if it's been through that. That's Kathy, is that correct? Yeah. Yes, so we, we have adhered to all of the requirements through OSP. We put out a public RFP and then the resultant contract and that packet has gone through OSP to be added today's review agenda. So it did go through Shared Services procurement process. Yes, that's correct. OK, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Representative. Golly, Representative Beatty or Representative Kavanaugh. Mm Right or left hand Yeah, I knew when I got I got make it relevant to the uh the contract, Howard might drop out. Alright, we lost Fran too. Where are you going, this is DHS. It is medical services. This is your last question of the day, Representative Kavanaugh. If I got medical services, right? Yes. All right. Good afternoon, Elizabeth Pittman Division of Medical Services. Thank you. Uh, this is on contract number 19. Um, it appears to be a new contract, and it just says to create. A contract for the Arkansas Health Insurance premium payment program. Yes, ma'am. Can you explain what the actual contract is doing. Yes, ma'am. So this is a new contract. It is with the same vendor that's doing it today. And this program is known as RIP throughout the state. It is the Arkansas Health Insurance premium Payment Program, um, and what we do is when it's, um, financially advantageous to the Medicaid program to purchase private insurance for families who are Medicaid eligible. This vendor makes that determination, and then we purchase that private insurance. so that it is billed prior to Medicaid. OK, so it's private expansion. OK, thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Representative. All right, members, see no further questions and without objections, these items will stand as reviewed. Mr. Chairman, the last group of contracts are in-state contracts beginning on page 25. Uh, the first one is the Department of Corrections division of Community Corrections. This is gonna be for a 23 bed male reentry facility. Uh, number 2, also for that them will be to, uh, a program to provide supervision housing and evidence-based programs and services directed at addressing, uh, risk factors and aimed at recidivism among the target. ation Number 3, this is gonna be for the Department of Education. um, this is for their day guard services at the Arkansas School for the Blind and Visually impaired in school for the deaf. Number 4, Department of Education. This is for janitorial services at what they're calling building number 2.5 is for, uh, division of Environmental quality. This is for janitorial services, number 6 also for environmental quality. This is for remediation work at a mine in Sebastian County. County, and this will be done in order to, uh, provide for general public safety as well as environmental protection of wildlife and humans. Number 7, this is, uh, the Department of Health and this is for the Arkansas State Board of Nursing. Uh, this is to provide investigations upon requests from the Arkansas Department of Health Board of Nursing, number 8 and 9 are both for DHS and this is for comprehensive substance abuse treatment services, number 10 is, uh, DHS and this is for Counseling services for the division of Children and Family Services, number 11 or 12, uh, these also are for DHS. These are the non-emergency transportation services contracts, amendments number 13, uh, this is the amendment for DHS. There's no money being added to this contract, but they are revising the performance indicators to continue the juvenile justice community-based reentry and vocational and career support services. Um, number 14. is the Department of Public Safety, Arkansas Crime Information Center, and this one, this particular contract is for the AMF system maintenance and support, and then you have a new contract for the Department of the Military. This is a federally funded for the anti-terrorism program coordinator. Those are all of the in-state contracts on today's agenda. All members, you've heard an explanation. Are there any questions from members of the committee? All right, so no questions, objection, these items will stand as reviewed. Mr. Chairman, the next thing on our agenda are the reports and you have 3 types of reports on today's agenda, the no material change on previously reviewed contracts. The second one is for, uh, executed contracts. These are contracts under the threshold and the 3rd report is for critical emergency, uh, purchases, um, and those are all of the reports on today's agenda. All right. And before you're a journalist, Senator Irvin. We got, 00, I'm sorry. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm so sorry. You just went really, really fast, but it's just a quick question, and they can get the information to me later. I just on the on the DYS contracts, we're using the TANF money for that, for that. I, I just kind of want to get to. Uh, a report on what we're using other uses of what TANFF is going to be used for in addition to this contract, um, where are those other areas and are we going to be doing similar types of things with that tan of money. I know there's been a transfer of that money over, so I'm I just looking for report or information on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, thank you, Senator Irvin. And if you all can just, did you get Senator Irvin's questions? OK, yeah, yeah, yeah. If you can just get Staff and she can disseminate that to, to, to, to members of the committee. All right, Kathy. Continue, Mr. Chairman, the last item is item G in your packet and, uh, this is just a disclosure, um, from the Arkansas Development Finance Authority. They are noting that there are uh contracts uh with the uh business entity in which Senator Jim Petty claims partial ownership, um, on page 3 of the packet is the governor's approval, which is required on this, um, and again, this is disclosure of contracts for Arkansas Development Finance Authority. All right. So no further questions and no further business to come before this committee, we are adjourned.