Special Notice / Hearing: None
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Louise F. Rogers, Chief, San Mateo County Health
Stephen Dean, Chief Information Officer, San Mateo County Health
Subject: Amendment to the Agreement with PerfectServe, Inc. to Continue to Provide Secure Text Messaging
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution authorizing an amendment to the Agreement with PerfectServe, Inc. to continue to provide the Health Department’s secure text messaging tool, extending the term of the agreement through February 12, 2025, and increasing the amount by $124,000 to an amount not to exceed $522,000.
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BACKGROUND:
San Mateo County Health Information Technology (HIT) and the Information Services Department (ISD) released a Request for Proposals on May 15, 2017, for secure texting services and selected PerfectServe, Inc. (formerly Telmediq) for the implementation of the secure text messaging project. Subsequently, HIT executed a contract with PerfectServe, Inc (PerfectServe).
PerfectServe, Inc. provides the Health Department’s secure messaging tool that has been in place since 2018. An Agreement was approved by the Board on February 13, 2018, which was processed through Information Services Department.
On February 13, 2021, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of San Mateo County Health (SMCH) approved an agreement with PerfectServe, Inc. which integrated with SMCH clinical, IT, and telecom systems to unify and simplify how the medical team communicates via secure text messaging and to streamline care.
On February 8, 2022, this Board approved an amendment to increase the contract amount by $240,000 to an amount not to exceed $398,000 and to extend the contract terms in the agreement through February 12, 2024.
DISCUSSION:
PerfectServe, Inc’s secure messaging tool has been in place since 2018. It is expected that this secure messaging application tool will only be needed for one additional year, as HIT’s Electronic Health Record vendor Epic will replace it.
From a timing and economic perspective, SMCH requests that this Board waive the Request for Proposals process to extend this Contract for one year, rather than initiate an RFP process for such a short period of time.
The County’s Contract Compliance Committee has approved a waiver request to extend the agreement for one year.
The amendment and resolution have been reviewed and approved by the County Attorney as to form.
The resolution contains the County’s standard provisions allowing amendment of the County’s fiscal obligations by a maximum of $25,000 (in aggregate).
The Information Services Department has reviewed and approved the IT components of this agreement.
It is anticipated that this amendment will enable the continued use of secure texting for 100 active users by allowing workflow members to exchange confidential data without risk of violating regulatory mandates or security best-practices. This includes secure texts shared both internally with partner organizations outside the County government and County clients.
PERFORMANCE MEASURE:
|
Measure |
FY 2023-2024 Actual |
FY 2024-2025 Estimated |
|
Number of active users enabled to adopt secure texting by allowing workflow members to exchange confidential data without risk to regulatory mandates or security best practices. |
100 Active Users |
100 Active Users |
FISCAL IMPACT:
The term of this amended agreement is from February 13, 2021, through February 12, 2025. The amount of the amended agreement is not to exceed $522,000 for the four-year term.
Funding for this amendment in the amount of $124,000 is covered by charges to SMCH divisions and is included in the HIT FY23-24 Adopted Budget.