DATE: May 6, 2025
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Sanja Bugay, Director, Department of Social Services
SUBJECT: Purchase of English and Spanish Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the CalSAWS Consortium and Accenture, LLP
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Under Administrative Policy No. 34 for competitive bids or requests for proposals (AP 34), determine that an exception to the competitive bidding requirement under AP 34 is satisfied and a Sole Source Acquisition is warranted due to unusual or extraordinary circumstances, and that the best interests of the County would be served by entering into an agreement with the CalSAWS Consortium and Accenture, LLP as the CalSAWS Consortium is a Joint Powers Authority formed by all 58 California Counties; and
2. Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute the County Purchase Agreement with the CalSAWS Consortium and Accenture, LLP for the purchase of English and Spanish Generative AI for post-call summarization on behalf of the County, effective June 1, 2025, through July 31, 2025, total cost not to exceed $161,369.
REPORT
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. Approval of the recommended action will allow the Department to continue services with the California Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWS) Consortium and Accenture, LLP (Accenture) for English and Spanish Generative AI for post-call summarization to improve call handling efficiency. The cost for the purchase will be offset primarily through existing State and Federal allocated funds. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Should your Board not approve the recommended action, the Department’s Contact Center will use manual summarization of call transcription. Without English and Spanish Generative AI services, the Department will forego the opportunity to take advantage of the increased efficiency and improved overall call handling times afforded by an automated real-time transcription service for English and Spanish language clients.
SUSPENSION OF COMPETITION/SOLE SOURCE CONTRACT:
It is requested that the County find under AP No. 34 that an exception to the competitive bidding requirement is satisfied, and a Sole Source Acquisition is warranted due to unusual or extraordinary circumstances, as the CalSAWS Consortium is a Joint Powers Authority formed for the management of CalSAWS on behalf of all 58 California counties. The Joint Powers Authority has procured the software, maintenance, and any necessary equipment support of English and Spanish Generative AI. English and Spanish Generative AI cannot be procured independently elsewhere. The General Services Department - Purchasing concurs with the Department’s assessment that this satisfies the exception to the competitive bidding process required by AP 34.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. The maximum cost of the recommended agreement ($161,369) will be fully offset with State and Federal Social Services Funds ($152,876), 2011 Realignment ($4,541) in lieu of State General Funds for Foster Care Eligibility that was realigned to counties through Assembly Bill 118 (Chapter 40, Statutes of 2011), 1991 Social Services Realignment ($1,799), and the required Net County Cost ($2,153) which offsets the General Relief Program share of cost. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included in the Department’s Org 5610 FY 2024-25 Adopted Budget and will be included in subsequent budgets.
DISCUSSION:
On March 12, 2019, the Board approved Agreement No. 19-129 and Agreement No. 19-130 with the CalSAWS Consortium, a Joint Powers Authority, to allow the CalSAWS Consortium to oversee activities and the management of CalSAWS, such as the design, procurement, development, implementation, migration, ongoing operation, and system maintenance, on behalf of all 58 California counties. The Department requests for additional CalSAWS support to follow the existing processes within the Consortium agreement and are represented as “Additional County Purchase Requests/Agreements”. The additional services can only be purchased through CalSAWS Consortium contracted vendors.
On March 19, 2024, the Board approved Agreement No. 24-136 with the CalSAWS Consortium to purchase Generative AI for post-call summarization for English language clients. The Department’s Contact Center implemented Generative AI to all staff in July 2024. The Department considered including Spanish language Generative AI with the initial County Purchase, but this feature was still under development and not ready for deployment.
On December 17, 2024, the Board approved Agreement No. 24-136 with the CalSAWS Consortium to purchase Generative AI for post-call summarization for Spanish language clients. Spanish Generative AI automatically transcribes the Spanish language conversation into English text, helping to reduce wait times, increase the number of clients served and provide equitable call handling times for both English and Spanish-speaking clients. Spanish Generative AI was available to staff February 2025.
Approval of the recommended action will allow the Department to extend ongoing worker support for both English and Spanish through a Generative AI solution. This is expected to reduce the time a worker spends on a call by approximately ten to fifteen minutes, as the AI solution automatically transcribes the client conversation. Currently, there are separate agreements for English and Spanish post-call summarization. Combining both services under one agreement will enable workers to manage calls more efficiently and focus on client needs, while reducing administrative burden and costs associated with maintaining two separate agreements. The two-month duration of this agreement will conclude the CalSAWS Consortium’s contract with its current vendor, Accenture, before transitioning to Gainwell, LLC, the new vendor selected by the CalSAWS Consortium as the statewide contact center service provider, effective August 1, 2025.
The County Purchase Agreement deviates from the County’s standard contract language as it was developed by the CalSAWS Consortium.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #85, December 17, 2024
BAI #50, March 19, 2024
BAI #50, March 12, 2019
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Sole Source Acquisition Request Form
On file with Clerk - Agreement with CalSAWS Consortium
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander