DATE: August 4, 2020
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Delfino E. Neira, Director, Department of Social Services
SUBJECT: Retroactive Memorandum of Understanding with the California VACS Association
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Make a finding that is in the best interest of the County to waive the competitive bidding process consistent with Administrative Policy No. 34 for contracts with a federal, state, or local governmental agency; and,
2. Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute a retroactive Memorandum of Understanding with the California VACS Association for shared ongoing software maintenance, system enhancements, and telephone support with member counties for the Ventura Automated Collection System, effective July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021, total not to exceed $13,210.
REPORT
There is no Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. Approval of the recommended actions will allow the Department continued use of the Ventura Automated Collection System (VACS) for recording and collecting debts that result from Public Assistance overpayments and overissuances. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Should your Board not approve the recommended action, the Department’s options would be to develop and maintain a system internally or seek out a debt collection system from a vendor to obtain the same level of services, which would incur additional costs for implementation, training, resources, and expertise in welfare overpayments as well as integration with the Department’s current and future eligibility benefits determination systems (CalWIN and CalSAWS).
SUSPENSION OF COMPETITION/SOLE SOURCE CONTRACT:
The Department requests to waive the competitive bidding process consistent with Administrative Policy No. 34 as the California VACS Association (CVA) through the County of Ventura is the sole entity that maintains VACS. Additionally, this Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is considered a contract with other local governmental agencies. The Internal Services Department - Purchasing concurs with the Department’s request to suspend the competitive bidding process.
RETROACTIVE AGREEMENT:
This MOU is retroactive as it was finalized and received from the CVA on May 14, 2020 and was initially prepared as a Purchasing Manager Agreement. Review and determination that this should be a Board Agreement and the subsequent review process did not allow presentation to your Board at an earlier date.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with this recommended action. The total maximum cost of the Agreement ($13,210) will be fully offset with State and Federal Social Services Funds ($11,337), 2011 Realignment ($1,206) in lieu of State General Funds for Child Welfare Services and Adult Protective Services Programs that were realigned to counties through Assembly Bill 118, 1991 Social Services Realignment ($590), and the required Net County Cost ($77) which offsets the General Relief Program share of cost. There are no pending invoices pertaining to this MOU. Sufficient appropriations and revenues will be included in the FY 2020-21 Recommended Budget for the Department of Social Services Org 5610.
DISCUSSION:
The County of Fresno is a member of the CVA, which is a consortium of California counties that share expenses associated with maintaining and enhancing VACS, a common, centrally maintained, welfare-specific collections system developed by the County of Ventura. Member counties pool their resources, experience, and expertise to improve the system’s accuracy and usefulness. The Department’s Finance Division utilizes VACS for the recording and collection of debts that result from Public Assistance overpayments and overissuances.
The MOU with the CVA has historically been executed annually as a Purchasing Manager Agreement since it is a non-complex purchase of services utilized by the County that is below the maximum total cost allowable for agreements authorized by the Purchasing Manager. Recent review determined this should be a Board Agreement as it is an MOU with other governmental agencies.
The CVA MOU deviates from the County’s standard contract language and does not include insurance or indemnity provisions.
The recommended retroactive Memorandum of Understanding is effective July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. Written notice of termination of membership must be provided to the CVA no later than 60 days prior to the end of the MOU term.
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Memorandum of Understanding with CVA
PD-048 Suspension of Competition Acquisition Request
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander