DATE: February 26, 2019
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Daniel C. Cederborg, County Counsel
SUBJECT: Amendment IV to Legal Services Agreement with Epstein, Becker & Green, PC
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute Amendment IV to Agreement P-17-077-Q with Epstein, Becker & Green, PC, for outside legal services to represent the County of Fresno in appeals of federal and state disallowances of cost reimbursement claims, effective upon execution with no change in term to December 31, 2019 and increasing the maximum by $100,000 to a total of $400,000.
REPORT
Approval of the recommended action will amend the existing agreement with Epstein, Becker & Green, PC, to provide additional legal services in their representation of the County in the appeal before the Departmental Appeals Board of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and subsequent federal court litigation. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
There are no viable alternative actions.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. The recommended amendment will increase the maximum compensation by $100,000 to a total of $400,000 for the entire term of the agreement. Sufficient appropriations are available within the FY 2018-19 Interest and Miscellaneous Expenditures Org 2540 Adopted Budget and will be included in future budget requests.
DISCUSSION:
The County pursued an appeal before the Departmental Appeals Board (DAB) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) challenging the disallowance of $6,271,287 in pension obligation bond costs by DHHS for Fiscal Years 2015 and 2016. In January of 2018, the Departmental Appeals Board filed its decision denying the County's appeal. Epstein, Becker & Green PC was retained to represent the County in the DHHS appeals board process and will continue to provide legal services in a federal court challenge to the DAB de...
Click here for full text