Date: May 12, 2026
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Sanja Bugay, Director, Department of Social Services
SUBJECT: Purchase of Purpose-Built, Curated Data Set (PBDS) Maintenance and Enhancement Services with the CalSAWS Consortium and Deloitte Consulting, LLP; Purchase of PBDS Infrastructure Support; and Retroactive Purchase of Extended Kiosk Printer Warranty Coverage with the CalSAWS Consortium and Gainwell Technologies, LLC
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, and that the best interests of the County would be served by entering into an Agreement with the CalSAWS Consortium, Deloitte Consulting LLP, 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 Deloitte Consulting, LLP for the purchase of Purpose-Built, Curated Data Set (PBDS) Maintenance and Enhancements (M&E) support, effective June 1, 2026, through May 31, 2027, total not to exceed $204,816;
3. Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute a County Purchase Agreement with the CalSAWS Consortium and Gainwell Technologies, LLC for the purchase of Purpose-Built, Curated Data Set (PBDS) Access and Infrastructure Support, effective June 1, 2026, through May 31, 2027, total not to exceed $39,233; and
4. Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute a retroactive County Purchase Agreement with the CalSAWS Consortium and Gainwell Technologies LLC for the purchase of Extended Kiosk Printer Warranty Coverage, effective April 1, 2026, through August 31, 2028, total not to exceed $9,450.
REPORT
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. Approval of the recommended actions will allow the Department to continue services with the California Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWS) Consortium, Deloitte Consulting, LLP (Deloitte) for PBDS for M&E support and Gainwell Technologies LLC (Gainwell) for PBDS Infrastructure and extended kiosk printer warranty coverage. PBDS allows the Department to create customized reporting and analysis of Social Services workload and productivity data. The fourth recommended action will approve a retroactive agreement with CalSAWS and Gainwell for extended kiosk printer warranty coverage for the Department’s lobby kiosks. 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 actions, the Department will lose access to PBDS and the reports developed through the County’s infrastructure agreement, as well as M&E support. M&E is necessary to address issues as they arise and provide updates that keep the system functional and aligned with departmental needs. Without this support, system performance may decline over time.
Additionally, without the extended kiosk printer warranty coverage, the Department will be unable to utilize CalSAWS maintenance support for the 26 self-service kiosks currently being used in our lobbies.
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 suspension of competition is warranted as the CalSAWS Consortium is a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) formed for the management of CalSAWS on behalf of all 58 California counties. The CalSAWS Consortium is considered a “public entity” established pursuant to Article II to the CalSAWS JPA. The JPA has procured the software, maintenance, and any necessary equipment support of PBDS and kiosk printer maintenance. PBDS and hardware maintenance support for kiosk printers cannot be procured independently elsewhere. Additionally, the kiosk printers are provided to the Department by the CalSAWS Consortium and are the property of CalSAWS. 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.
RETROACTIVE AGREEMENT:
The fourth recommended action is retroactive to April 1, 2026. The Department was informed on March 20, 2026, through an updated draft of the Extended Kiosk Printer Warranty Coverage agreement from the CalSAWS Consortium, that the 26 kiosk printers in use by the Department have varying warranty coverage periods, including two printers with coverage ending on March 31, 2026. This agreement is being presented to your Board at the earliest possible date.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. The maximum cost of the recommended agreements ($253,499) will be fully offset with State and Federal Social Services Funds ($227,180), 2011 Realignment ($5,105) 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 ($17,819), and the required Net County Cost ($3,395) which offsets the General Relief Program share of cost. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included in the Department’s Org 5610 FY 2026-27 Recommended Budget and will be included in subsequent budget requests.
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 May 23, 2023, your Board approved Agreement No. 23-229 with the CalSAWS Consortium for the Department to purchase and install 26 CalSAWS kiosks in Department lobbies. These kiosks allow the public to submit applications and supporting documents during office hours without waiting for the next available staff member. This County Purchase Agreement includes all the required hardware, software and hardware technical support, equipment training, and administrative costs associated with installation. Services under this agreement were extended through January 31, 2025. Ongoing, recurring technical infrastructure services to support the kiosks will be provided and funded by the Consortium moving forward.
On April 23, 2024, the Board approved Agreement No. 24-193 with the CalSAWS Consortium for the purchase of PBDS access and technical training from Accenture, the vendor selected by the CalSAWS Consortium. Services included infrastructure support, M&E, and technical training related to generating, customizing, and interpreting reports within the CalSAWS system. Your Board has subsequently approved several actions related to PBDS, including amendments and new agreements necessitated by a transition in vendor responsibilities to Gainwell and Deloitte. These actions extended PBDS infrastructure and M&E support through May 31, 2026.
Approval of the recommended actions will allow the Department to continue receiving Infrastructure and M&E support for PBDS. These services support system access, data accuracy, stability, and adaptability, enabling the Department to meet evolving operational needs while improving efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency. The Consortium has aligned the term dates of the Department’s PBDS Infrastructure and M&E agreements, enabling future extensions to be completed at the same time and streamlining administrative processing.
PBDS access from CalSAWS provides curated data from the County’s Amazon S3 account, specifically filtered to the County of Fresno. PBDS enables the Department to develop customized reporting and analysis of Public Assistance data, applying conditions in accordance with Department workload management needs.
CalSAWS provides the Department with the Enterprise Data Repository (EDR) environment along with all 58 counties in which the Department’s IT division filters pre-defined datasets to obtain data that pertains to Fresno County daily for use in the Department’s current reporting infrastructure Oracle Business Intelligence (Oracle BI). The Department currently faces challenges with the CalSAWS reporting environment, due to the added time required to obtain and filter County specific data, limitations met with CalSAWS pre-defined reports, and the need for workarounds to combine data. Requests to modify current pre-defined CalSAWS reports can be an extensive process, requiring a Service Request and approval from all 58 counties. The EDR environment is built from a PBDS.
The CalSAWS self-service kiosks located in DSS lobbies allow clients to check in, submit documents, and view case information. Kiosk printers provide a printed receipt of the client’s place in line, helping ensure timely service and routing to the appropriate worker. Coverage includes general maintenance, parts replacements, printer replacement, and labor provided by service technicians. Maintaining kiosk printer’s functionality will help the Department avoid operational bottlenecks, reduce errors, and supporting an improved client experience in DSS lobbies.
The County Purchase Agreement deviates from the County’s standard contract language as it was developed by the CalSAWS Consortium.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #57, February 10, 2026
BAI #74, June 24, 2025
BAI #59, January 28, 2025
BAI #69, December 3, 2024
BAI #48, April 23, 2024
BAI #53, May 23, 2023
BAI #50, March 12, 2019
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Suspension of Competition Acquisition Request - PBDS M&E
Suspension of Competition Acquisition Request - PBDS Infrastructure
Suspension of Competition Acquisition Request - Kiosk Printer Warranty
On file with Clerk - Agreement with the CalSAWS Consortium and Deloitte (PBDS M&E)
On file with Clerk - Agreement with the CalSAWS Consortium and Gainwell (PBDS Infra.)
On file with Clerk - Agreement with the CalSAWS Consortium and Gainwell (Kiosk Printer)
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander