Agenda Item AGENDA STAFF REPORT ASR Control 23-000922
MEETING DATE:	01/09/24
legal entity taking action:	Board of Supervisors
board of supervisors district(s):	All Districts
SUBMITTING Agency/Department:	Social Services Agency (Approved)
Department contact person(s):	An Tran (714) 541-7708
	Kristina Traw (714) 245-6049

Subject: Renew and Amend Agreement for Respite Care Services

ceo CONCUR

County Counsel Review

Clerk of the Board

Concur

Approved Agreement to Form

Discussion

3 Votes Board Majority

Budgeted: Yes

Current Year Cost: $75,000

Annual Cost: FY 2024-25 $270,000
FY 2025-26 $195,000

Staffing Impact:

# of Positions:

Sole Source: No

Current Fiscal Year Revenue: N/A

Funding Source: See Financial Impact Section	County Audit in last 3 years: No
Levine Act Review Completed: Yes

Prior Board Action: 3/14/2023 #35, 5/24/2016 #81

RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):

Authorize the County Procurement Officer or Deputized designee to execute Amendment One to Agreement with New Alternatives, Incorporated for Respite Care Services to increase funding by $75,000 for the term of July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, and renew and amend the Agreement in an amount not to exceed $465,000, effective July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2026, for a revised cumulative total amount not to exceed $1,125,000, effective July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2026.

Authorize the County Procurement Officer or Deputized designee to make future non-material changes to the Agreement within the scope of work that do not increase the maximum contractual funding obligation.

SUMMARY:

Approval of Amendment One with New Alternatives, Incorporated for Respite Care Services will support caregivers by offering vital short-term periods of caregiver relief provided by County-approved resource parents to support placement and improve family stability.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The Social Services Agency (SSA) is requesting the Board of Supervisors’ (Board) approval of Amendment One with New Alternatives, Incorporated (NAI) for the provision of Respite Care Services (Respite) to increase funding for fiscal year (FY) 2023-24 and to renew and amend the Agreement for an additional two-year term, from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2026. Prior to the expiration of the Agreement, SSA plans to issue a solicitation to continue services.

In accordance with state statute and regulations, Respite gives resource parents, caregivers and parents vital short-term periods of caregiver relief provided by County-approved resource parents to support home and placement stability. Respite may be given to caregivers for reasons such as appointments, classes, business trips, special events, medical treatments, rest and stress reduction. Services are available to all youth from birth to age 18 and to non-minor dependents with a medical condition requiring adult supervision, ages 18 and 19. NAI is required to always have someone on-call to respond to Respite requests from foster family agencies, resource family approved homes, adoptive parents, relative caregivers, non-relative extended family members and high-risk parents.

On March 14, 2023, the Board authorized SSA to apply for and accept the Flexible Family Supports and Home-Based Foster Care (HBFC) funding from the California Department of Social Services in the amount of $2,091,632 for FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25. In FYs 2023-25, SSA will apply $150,000 to the Respite program to allow more families to participate and benefit from respite care; the remaining of the Flexible Family Supports and HBFC funding will be applied to other SSA programs that also support foster youth and their caregivers. SSA will allow waivers of payment that would otherwise be deducted from the caregiver’s monthly HBFC amount and allow reimbursement of expenses incurred by Respite caregivers for participants to engage in recreational activities during their first respite care session in a fiscal year.

On May 24, 2016, the Board approved the prior Respite Agreement with NAI with a maximum obligation of $827,045 for the term of July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2021.

On September 8, 2020, SSA released a Request for Proposal (RFP) through the County’s Online Bidding System to solicit proposals from interested parties to provide Respite. SSA received one proposal by the deadline of October 8, 2020, from NAI. The proposal was evaluated by an evaluation panel composed of one Administrative Manager I and four Senior Social Services Supervisors from SSA’s Children and Family Services Division. The panel noted the proposal from NAI met the general program requirements outlined in the RFP and recommended award of Agreement to NAI. The current Agreement with a maximum obligation of $585,000 for the initial three-year term from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2024, with the option to renew for one additional two-year term was executed on June 15, 2021; per Contract Policy Manual Section 3.4-108 (1), Board approval was not required as the Agreement’s annual maximum obligation did not exceed the $200,000 annual threshold.

Outcomes

Outcomes for Respite for the term of July 1, 2021, through November 30, 2023, are as follows:

Outcome Objectives	FY 2021-22	FY 2022-23	FY 2023-24
Contractor shall review and assess 100% of referrals for services.	100%	100%	100%
Contractor shall participate in a minimum of 12 outreach and recruitment efforts per year to secure additional County Approved Resource Parents as Respite Caregivers.	35	15	9
Contractor shall provide status of Respite Care request to each Respite Recipient within three business days from the initial referral.	100%	100%	100%
Contractor shall complete qualitative evaluation surveys and document survey results with a minimum of 75% of Respite Care Recipients upon completion of Respite Care Services Session.	65%	47%	38%*

*Data through September 30, 2023. SSA and the Contractor are exploring various strategies to increase the surveys completion rate.

The Contractor’s performance has been confirmed as at least satisfactory. SSA has verified there are no concerns that must be addressed with respect to the Contractor’s ownership/name, litigation status or conflicts with County interests. The Orange County Preference Policy is not applicable to this amendment.

Subcontract

This Agreement, due to the nature of the services, could require the addition of subcontractors. In order to add subcontractor(s) to the Agreement, the contractor must seek express consent from SSA. Should the addition of a subcontractor affect the scope of work and/or Agreement amount, SSA will bring the item back to the Board for approval. In the past, subcontractor(s) have not been used for this Agreement. See Attachment C for Contract Summary Form.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

Appropriations for this amendment will be absorbed within the existing Budget Control 063, Social Services Agency FY 2023-24 Budget and will be included in the budgeting process for future years.

This Agreement is funded with state, federal and county General Fund (GF). The chart below includes the current FY increase and the renewal.

FY 2023-24 (Increase) – FY 2024-26 (Renewal) Proposed Funding by Program
Program	Projected Usage	Federal	State	County GF	Total
Child Abuse Prevention, Intervention and Treatment	44.67%	$0	$241,200	$0	$241,200
Child Welfare Services	27.55%	$3,869	$141,658	$3,273	$148,800
Flexible Family Supports & HBFC	27.78%	$0	$150,000	$0	$150,000
Total		$3,869	$532,858	$3,273	$540,000
Funding Ratio	100%	1%	98%	1%

Contingency of Funds

The Agreement includes provisions that the Agreement is contingent upon the availability of funds and inclusion of sufficient funds in the budget approved by the Board for each fiscal year the Agreement remains in effect or operation. In the event such funding is terminated or reduced, the County may terminate the Agreement, reduce the County’s maximum obligation or modify the Agreement, without penalty.

STAFFING IMPACT:

N/A

ATTACHMENT(S):

Attachment A – Amendment One to Agreement with New Alternatives, Incorporated #CCE1121-A1
Attachment B – Redline to Agreement #CCE1121 with New Alternatives, Incorporated
Attachment C – Contract Summary Form