DATE: June 10, 2025
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Sanja Bugay, Director Department of Social Services
SUBJECT: Agreement with the Regents of the University of California for Social Services Training
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 suspension of competition 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 Regents of the University of California, on behalf of the University of California, Davis as it is a state governmental agency; and
2. Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute an Agreement with the Regents of the University of California, on behalf of the University of California, Davis, to provide training for Adult Services, Eligibility Services, CalWORKs Employment Services, In-Home Supportive Services, and Child Welfare Courses, effective July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027, total not to exceed $790,500.
REPORT
There is no additional Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions, which will allow the Department of Social Services to have the Regents of the University of California, on behalf of the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) Continuing and Professional Education, provide specialized social services training to Department staff. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Should your Board choose not to approve the recommended actions, the Department will not be able to provide mandated training for social services staff, including Adult Services, Eligibility Services, CalWORKs Employment Services, In-Home Supportive Services, and Child Welfare Services.
SUSPENSION OF COMPETITION/SOLE SOURCE CONTRACT:
The California Department of Social Services has a Training Support Unit (TSU) to focus on the oversight of the development, support, capacity building, and expertise of child welfare professionals and public entities providing child welfare services. The TSU oversees and supports training via contractual relationships with statewide Regional Training Academies (RTA). RTA is broken into several California Regions and usually only provide service to counties within their region. Of the identified RTA, The Northern California Training Academy (UC Davis) and Central California Training Academy (CCTA) are able to serve Fresno County. However, only UC Davis offers the customizable and comprehensive training courses needed by the Department. CCTA focuses primarily on Child Welfare Training and does not offer the same range of courses for the areas of Adult services, Eligibility and Employment Services that UC Davis does. For this reason, it is requested that the County find under AP No. 34 that an exception to the competitive bidding requirement is satisfied, and a suspension of competition is warranted as UC Davis is a state governmental agency and best suited to provide State-designated specialized human services training. 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 amount of the recommended agreement ($790,500) will be offset with State and Federal Social Services funds ($676,175), 2011 Realignment ($55,512) in lieu of State General Funds for Child Welfare Services and Adult Protective Services Programs that were realigned to counties through Assembly Bill (AB) 119, 1991 Social Services Realignment ($51,966), and the required Net County Cost ($6,847) which offsets the General Relief Program share of cost. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues will be included in the Department’s Org 5610 FY 2025-26 Recommended Budget and will be included in subsequent budget requests.
DISCUSSION:
The Department is mandated to provide training in accordance with the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), section 235.62, State Plan Requirements for Training Programs, and the State Manual of Policies and Procedures (MPP) Chapter 14, Staff Development and Training. The goals and objectives of the training are to assist the Department in increasing staff competency, administering programs more effectively, and assuring high quality of public services.
UC Davis has provided Federal and State mandated training to the Department continuously since 1989. The recommended agreement provides a maximum of 200 units for eligibility services, child welfare services, and specialized training in areas such as supervision and management. Training meets Federal and State requirements and improves the knowledge and skills of Social Workers, Eligibility Workers, Job Specialists, Employment Services Supervisors, and Administrative Staff.
The recommended agreement utilizes UC Davis’ contract model that differs from the County’s standard contract model but allows for termination for any reason by either the County or UC Davis providing 30 days advance written notice. The agreement includes mutual indemnification language and limitation of liability language that was approved by the Board in 2023. The Department believes moving forward with the agreement with UC Davis without changes to the indemnification language or the limitation of liability language is in the County’s best interests, as its workforce will benefit from the trainings outweighing the risk to the County. The Department wishes to move forward due to the low risk and need for continued services. UC Davis requests the County to sign first and will subsequently fully execute the agreement. A copy of the fully executed agreement will be forwarded to the Clerk of the Board.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #82, June 20, 2023
BAI #40, June 8, 2021
BAI #71, September 22, 2020
BAI #70, June 18, 2019
BAI #70, June 21, 2016
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Suspension of Competition Acquisition Request Form
On file with Clerk - Agreement with UC Davis
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander