Date: February 10, 2026
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Sanja Bugay, Director, Department of Social Services
SUBJECT: Agreement with the CalSAWS Consortium and Gainwell Technologies, LLC for One-Time Setup Costs for Electronic Return Mail Notification Services
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 Gainwell Technologies, LLC as the CalSAWS Consortium is a Joint Powers Authority formed by all 58 California Counties; and
2. Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute a County Purchase Agreement with the CalSAWS Consortium and Gainwell Technologies, LLC for the one-time setup costs for Electronic Return Mail Notification services on behalf of the County, effective March 1, 2026, with ongoing costs to be absorbed by the CalSAWS Consortium County Share of Cost, total cost not to exceed $7,500.
REPORT
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. Approval of the recommended actions will allow the Department to receive Electronic Return Mail Notification services from the California Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWS) Consortium and Gainwell Technologies, LLC, which will reduce the time required to identify and update mail marked as “Undeliverable” in CalSAWS. The cost of 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 will continue to follow current business processes regarding returned mail. Without Electronic Return Mail Notification services, the Department will forgo the opportunity to improve efficiency by reducing the time it takes for undeliverable mail to be returned and client information to be updated.
SUSPENSION OF COMPETITION/SOLE SOURCE CONTRACT:
It is requested that the County find under AP 34 that an exception to the competitive bidding requirement is satisfied, and a sole source 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 Electronic Return Mail Notification services and 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 actions. The maximum cost of the recommended agreement ($7,500) will be fully offset with State and Federal Social Services Funds ($6,683), 2011 Realignment ($143) 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 ($570), and the required Net County Cost ($104) which offsets the General Relief Program share of cost. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included in the Department’s Org 5610 FY 2025-26 Adopted Budget.
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.
Approval of the recommended action will allow the Department to receive electronic notifications from CalSAWS Central Print when the United States Postal Service (USPS) flags an address as undeliverable. CalSAWS correspondence is generated and mailed through Central Print on behalf of the County. When USPS determines that mail is undeliverable, it is returned with a USPS label and the address is recorded in either the Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS) or the National Change of Address (NCOA) system. Central Print will transmit any non-deliverable address information identified through these systems to the County within 24 hours of processing. CalSAWS will then create an automated journal entry and generate a report or task for review. The County may choose to have undeliverable mail returned physically or have Central Print securely shred and dispose of it. Costs for the Electronic Return Mail Notification service will be incorporated into the CalSAWS County Share of Costs after implementation.
The Department’s implementation of Electronic Return Mail Notification will significantly improve client service delivery by reducing the timeframe between when mail is deemed undeliverable and when the corresponding case address is updated. Currently, returned mail may take 2 to 6 weeks to arrive back at the County, after which it is scanned and assigned to an Eligibility Worker within one to two days. Eligibility Workers then have up to 15 days to process the task under existing Ongoing processing guidelines. With electronic notifications, the Department can contact clients and update addresses more quickly, reducing the volume of correspondence sent to undeliverable addresses and decreasing return mail tasks.
The County Purchase Agreement deviates from the County’s standard contract language as it was developed by the CalSAWS Consortium.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #50, March 12, 2019
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Sole Source Acquisition Request
On file with Clerk - Agreement with CalSAWS Consortium
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander