DATE: June 21, 2022
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Susan Holt, Director, Department of Behavioral Health
SUBJECT: Amendment to Master Agreement for Multi-Agency Access Point Operators
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute Amendment II to Master Agreement with Multi-Agency Access Program Point Operators, effective July 1, 2022, extending the term by one-year from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023 with an optional one-year extension, and increasing the maximum by $1,800,000 to a total of $10,300,000.
REPORT
Approval of the recommended action will allow the County to continue operate the Multi-Agency Access Program (MAP) through the MAP operators for up to an additional two fiscal years, for a total of eight years. MAP uses a common screening tool to help individuals living in the County gain access to resources and supports, and addresses various barriers. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
If your Board were not to approve the recommended action, individuals and families living in the County may experience barriers when accessing services and resources to address daily and basic needs, such as behavioral health services, social services, employment assistance, housing/homelessness assistance, and others. Individuals will no longer be able to seek the assistance of MAP Operator staff who help guide and link the County residents to needed or lesser-known resources and services available.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. Approval of the recommended amendment will increase the maximum by $1,800,000 to $10,300,000 for the full term. Services will be funded by Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI). Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included in the Department of Behavioral Health’s Org 5630 FY 2021-22 Adopted Budget and will be included in future budget requests
DISCUSSION:
On February 17, 2015, the Hospital Council’s Community Conversations and Fresno-Madera Continuum of Care implemented the County of Fresno’s first pilot Multi-Agency Access Program (MAP) operated at Poverello House.
On December 13, 2016, the Board approved Agreement No. 16-692 with BitWise Industries to develop and implement a MAP Dashboard and Client Resource Management Application.
On January 10, 2017, the Board approved Agreement No. 17-006 with Kings View, Poverello House, and Centro La Familia, commonly referred to as the MAP Collaborative, to operate MAP Points (locations) throughout the County.
The MAP Collaborative has utilized the dashboard and software application developed by BitWise Industries since mid-2017, which is a database with a screening tool used to obtain basic demographics and determine the current needs of the individual or family seeking MAP services. Unfortunately, concerns about data integrity related to the application have remained unresolved despite numerous attempts between the County and BitWise Industries to find a workable resolution. As a result, the MAP Collaborative, with the approval of the Department, has developed workarounds to obtain quarterly data for reporting purposes; however, the process is tedious, time-consuming, unsustainable, and does not serve the County’s long-term need. Ultimately, although there is overwhelmingly positive feedback from county residents who have utilized MAP services, the data produced provides a challenge to the Department in determining quantitative evidence of MAP’s impact to the community and persons in need.
On June 22, 2021, the Board approved Amendment I to the Master Agreement for MAP, which was intended to allow the Department one year to source and implement a new software platform to replace the application created by BitWise Industries. The Department identified the Unite USA (Unite Us) platform, which is a national platform used by numerous community-based organizations (CBOs), government entities, and other resource organizations to evaluate participant needs, make referrals to resources, and enable feedback from those resources that are a part of the Unite Us platform network. The Unite Us platform is being utilized by several CBOs and organizations in the County and is expected to be implemented across all counties in California by the end of 2022. The Internal Services Department - Purchasing Division authorized Purchasing Agreement No. P-22-016 with Unite USA, Inc on January 5, 2022, and the Department is working on implementing the platform with full access to the MAP Collaborative by the end of June 2022.
Simultaneously, while the Department was seeking a new platform for MAP, the decision was made to evaluate the existing MAP operations and screening tool to determine whether the process effectively and efficiently met the goals and objectives of MAP, and identify any modifications that would improve the pathway to achieve the mission of MAP, which is to help reduce barriers to resources for persons living in the County by identifying their needs and helping to provide resources and assistance in the most streamlined manner that fits the individual’s needs and goals. The Department is currently working with the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization that evaluates and develops solutions for public policy and public entities.
Approval of the recommended amendment would provide the Department with time to not only implement the Unite Us platform, but to also incorporate any changes recommended by the RAND Corporation that would fit in the agreement’s approved scope of work. The Department would also use the research results from RAND Corporation in the development of a request for proposal (RFP) for the next prospective iteration of MAP; ideally, this competitive bidding process would occur within the term of the recommended amendment.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #37, June 22, 2021
BAI #28, January 10, 2017
BAI #27, December 13, 2016
ATTACHMENT INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Amendment to Master Agreement with MAP Point Operators
CAO ANALYST:
Sonia M. De La Rosa