Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Louise F. Rogers, Chief, San Mateo County Health
Cassius Lockett, Director, Public Health Policy and Planning
Subject: Amendment to the Agreement with Public Health Foundation Enterprises, Inc. dba Heluna Health for the Recruitment, Hiring, Management and Oversight of Personnel
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution authorizing an amendment to the agreement with Public Health Foundation Enterprises, Inc. dba Heluna Health for the recruitment, hiring, management and oversight of personnel, increasing the number of contact tracers from 25 contact tracers to 50 contact tracers and 2 contact tracer team leads and increasing the amount payable by $3,000,000, to an amount not exceed $3,500,000.
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BACKGROUND:
On May 26, 2020, County Health addressed the Board with its proposed plan to increase the contact investigation and tracing workforce of the Public Health, Policy and Planning (PHPP) Division’s Communicable Disease Control (CD) Program as needed for the COVID-19 mitigation strategy. Contact investigation and tracing are core capabilities of the PHPP infrastructure needed to respond to and control the spread of COVID-19. In San Mateo County, contact investigation and tracing has been a critical CD Program tool for responding to any one of the 87 communicable diseases they address each year. The COVID-19 pandemic requires significantly scaling up that capability.
In October 2020, under a contract with the State of California, Public Health Foundation Enterprises, Inc. dba Heluna Health (Heluna) began providing 6 contact tracers to the CD Program.
On December 4, 2020, the County directly entered into a contract with Heluna on December 4, 2020 to provide 25 contact tracers to the CD Program to immediately cover weekends and holidays.
DISCUSSION:
Due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in San Mateo County, the CD Program would like to request an additional 25 contact tracers and 2 contact tracer team leads, and increase the amount payable by $3,000,000, to an amount not exceed $3,500,000. The CD Program needs to increase the number of contact tracers, in accordance with State guidelines, to attempt to reach the increased number of COVID-19 cases (i.e. more than 500 new cases per day). Amending this contract to provide the additional contact tracers enables the County to expeditiously recruit the needed workforce, maintain continuity of services and reduce the administrative burden on the CD Program. As a result, we request that your Board grant a waiver to the Request for Proposal process.
The agreement and resolution have been reviewed and approved by County Counsel as to form.
The resolution contains the County’s standard provisions allowing further amendment of the County fiscal obligations by a maximum of $25,000 (in aggregate).
It is estimated that at least 15 FTE contact tracers are needed per every 100,000 residents in San Mateo County as per State recommendations.
PERFORMANCE MEASURE:
|
Measure |
FY 2020-21 Estimated |
FY 2021-22 Projected |
|
Number of contact tracers needed per 100,000 residents for San Mateo County, as per State recommendations |
45 FTE |
75-115 FTE |
FISCAL IMPACT:
The term of the amended agreement with Heluna is December 4, 2020 through December 31, 2021. The amount of the agreement is not to exceed $3,500,000 for the term. The amendment increases the amount payable under the agreement by $3,000,000. For the period of December 4, 2020 through December 30, 2020, allowable costs up to $86,850 has been funded through CARES Act funding. Funding for the period of January 1, 2021 through June 30, 2021 is to be determined and it is expected that a second ATR will be brought to this Board at a future date.
Funds in the amount of $3,000,000 will be included in the PHPP FY 2020-21 Adopted Budget.
There is no Net County Cost associated with the approval of this contract.