AGENDA STAFF REPORT

Agenda Item AGENDA STAFF REPORT ASR Control 19-000894
MEETING DATE:	01/14/20
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):	Alyson Piguee (714) 245-6190
	Mallorie Lenn (714) 541-7470

Subject: Agreements for Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children

ceo CONCUR

County Counsel Review

Clerk of the Board

Concur

Approved Agreement to Form

Discussion

3 Votes Board Majority

Budgeted: Yes

Current Year Cost: $595,316

Annual Cost: FY 2020-21: $2,225,188
FY 2021-22: $2,225,188

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

Prior Board Action: 2/06/2018 #24

RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):

Approve Agreement with Children’s Home Society of California for Bridge Program Emergency Child Care Voucher Services, with a maximum obligation of $4,452,762 for the period of February 1, 2020, through June 30, 2022.

Approve Agreement with Children's Home Society of California for Bridge Program Child Care Navigator and Trauma-Informed and Coaching Services, with a maximum obligation of $592,930 for the period of July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2022.

Pursuant to Contract Policy Manual Section 3.4-114, authorize the Social Services Agency Director or designee to exercise a contingency cost increase, not to exceed a total of 10 percent of the agreements amounts for the first year of the agreements listed in Recommended Actions Numbers One and Two, for the entire terms of the agreements, including renewals, and within the scope of work set forth in the agreements. The use of this contingency contract cost increase is subject to approval requirements established by the County Procurement Officer.

SUMMARY:

Approval of the Agreements with Children’s Home Society will provide Child Care Navigator resource and referral assistance to foster families, relative caregivers and parenting youth in foster care; Trauma-Informed Training and Coaching services to child care providers; and Emergency Child Care Vouchers for child care services to foster children, children and youth with exceptional needs and severely disabled children while the Resource Families obtain subsidized child care.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The Social Services Agency (SSA) is requesting the Board of Supervisors’ (Board) approval for Agreements with Children’s Home Society of California (CHS) for Bridge Program Emergency Child Care for Foster Children (Bridge Program), which includes Bridge Program Emergency Child Care Voucher Services (Bridge Voucher) with a maximum obligation of $4,452,762 for the period of February 1, 2020, through June 30, 2022, and Bridge Program Child Care Navigator and Trauma-Informed Training and Coaching Services (Bridge Navigator) with a maximum obligation of $592,930 for the period of July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2022. SSA is requesting the Board’s approval for a 10 percent contingency cost increase in the event of an increase in state allocation for these services.

The Bridge Program Services operates in accordance with Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) Section 11461.6 and Education Code Section 8212. One of the top barriers for recruiting and retaining families who take in a foster child is the lack of access to child care at the time of placement. Senate Bill (SB) 89 (2017) established the Bridge Program to increase the number of foster children successfully placed in home-based care, increase capacity of child care programs to meet the needs of foster children in their care and maximize funding to support the child care needs of resource families. Additionally, SB 89 requires that child care providers (CCP) serving children in the Bridge Program shall receive access to trauma-informed care training and coaching.

Bridge Program Emergency Child Care Voucher Services

SB 89 states that counties may establish local priorities and may either provide payment directly to the family or CCP or contract with a local alternative payment provider (APP) to distribute vouchers for child care. The Bridge Voucher program offers an array of child care arrangements such as in-home care, family child care and center-based care. Eligible families may receive a child care voucher to pay for child care costs for foster children, birth through age 12, and for children and youth with exceptional needs up to age 21. A voucher is a time-limited payment that may be issued for up to a six-month period or until the child is successfully transitioned into long-term child care paid through another source (subsidized or unsubsidized), whichever is sooner. Bridge Voucher payments will be paid in accordance with the Regional Market Rate ceilings for subsidized child care payment rates, per California Code of Regulations.

SSA has been administering the child care vouchers since Bridge Voucher’s inception in February 2018. An analysis was conducted to determine the cost/benefit of contracting out versus providing this service in-house. Based on this analysis, staff has determined that contracting for this service allows for cost effectiveness, as it will allow for charges associated with administrative processes to be compensated through the contractor.

Currently, the County does not receive compensation for this administrative work, as only contractors are permitted to receive administrative cost compensation under Bridge funding.

On July 15, 2019, SSA released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Bridge Voucher Services. SSA received one proposal by the deadline of August 5, 2019. A three-member evaluation panel, comprised of one SSA Administrative Manager II, one Administrative Manager I and one Senior Social Services Supervisor, reviewed, evaluated and scored the proposal. The proposal was evaluated and rated based on the criteria in the table below. A maximum of 100 points were possible, with a scoring breakdown as follows:

Evaluation Criteria	Points
Agency Experience	15
Program Management of Direct Services	25
Direct Services to be Provided	40
Budget	20
Total	100

Rating Results:

Name of Organization	Average Score
CHS	81.24

A Notice of Proposed Contract Award was posted on BidSync on November 9, 2019. No protests were received. CHS is the current provider for Bridge Program Child Care Navigator and Trauma-Informed Training and Coaching Services and is performing satisfactorily. CHS is a California nonprofit corporation with 43 years of experience providing child care related services and is one of two Orange County APPs registered with the California Department of Education. SSA has verified there are no concerns that must be addressed with respect to contractor’s ownership/name, litigation status or conflicts with County interests. Reference checks were satisfactory and completed with First 5 Orange County, Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles and Yuba County Child and Adult Protective Services regarding similar projects. Due to a protracted negotiation process that extended the time for Agreement completion, SSA is submitting this item for Board approval less than 30 days prior to effective date of the Agreement.

This Agreement includes non-standard insurance provisions that have been approved by CEO Risk Management and the Risk Assessment or Modification of Insurance Terms is attached (Attachment E) to this ASR.

Outcomes:

The Contractor will be required to report service delivery to SSA, which include the following:

Outcome	FY 2020-23
Develop and implement a plan for long-term child care that is appropriate to the child’s age and need	100 percent of all referred families
Ensure referred eligible resource families secure a voucher and obtain child care within 10 business days	75 percent of referred eligible resource families
Collect and process for payment invoices from CCPs by the 10th calendar day of the month for the prior month of service	Monthly
Provide training and/or follow up to 100 percent of CCPs who need assistance with submitting invoices or those who submit late invoices	Monthly
Issue payment to 100 percent of CCPs no later than 21 business days following the receipt of an accurate and complete invoice for services rendered in the prior month(s)	Monthly
Submit CCB-18 data to SSA by the 20th calendar day of the month for the prior month of service	Monthly

Bridge Program Child Care Navigator and Trauma-Informed and Coaching Services

Under WIC Section 11461.6(b) and (e), county welfare departments are responsible for administering the Bridge Program and each child that receives a payment or voucher under the Bridge Program shall be provided with a child care navigator provided by the local Resource & Referral (R&R), respectively. Further, Education Code Section 8212(a)(5)(A)-(B) stipulates that R&R Programs shall provide a child care navigator and trauma-informed training and coaching to CCPs. All County Letter (ACL) No. 18-75 then dictates that funding for trauma-informed care training and coaching must go to the local R&R Program; R&Rs are approved and funded by California Department of Education (CDE). CDE has approved only one R&R in Orange County, which is CHS. As such, SSA can only enter into an agreement with CHS to provide child care navigator and trauma-informed and coaching services.

On February 6, 2018, the Board approved a 28-month Sole Source Contract with CHS for Bridge Navigator services with a cumulative maximum obligation of $647,100 for the period of February 15, 2018, through June 30, 2020.

The Contractor’s performance has been confirmed as satisfactory. SSA has verified there are no concerns that need to be addressed with respect to contractor’s ownership/name, litigation status or conflicts with County interests.

The Agreement includes non-standard insurance provisions that have been approved by CEO Risk Management and the Risk Assessment or Modification of Insurance Terms is attached (Attachment I) to this Agenda Staff Report.

Outcomes:

The current Agreement outcomes objectives and actual outcomes are as follows:

	Outcome Objectives				Actual Outcomes
Outcome	FY 2017-18	FY 2018-19	FY 2019-20	FY 2017-18		FY 2018-19	FY 2019-20 YTD(1)
Maintain and update the Resource List of CCPs within Orange County	Quarterly	Quarterly	Quarterly	Met		Met	Met
Families requiring child care assistance at the time of the child's placement shall be connected to licensed CCPs	80%	90%	95%	100%		96%	100%
Families shall be provided assistance with applications for available state subsidized child care programs	80%	90%	95%	100%		100%	100%

(1) From July 2019 through October 2019

Outcome objectives for the new Agreement are as follows:

Outcome	FY 2020-23
Maintain and update the Resource List of CCPs within Orange County	Quarterly
Ensure Trauma-Informed Coaching sessions are provided on a one-on-one basis	40 percent of CCPs - Annually
Participate in monthly technical assistance calls with State Resource and Referral Bridge Program	Monthly
Connect families to licensed CCPs	95 percent of families - Annually
Assist families with applications for long-term, state subsidized child care programs	95 percent of families - Annually
Offer Trauma-Informed Training and Coaching to CCPs that receive referrals	100 percent of providers - Annually

Subcontracts:

These Agreements, due to the nature of their services, could require the addition of subcontractors. In order to add subcontractor(s) to the Agreements, the Contractor must seek express consent from SSA. Should the addition of a subcontractor affect the scope of work and/or contract amount, SSA will bring the item back to the Board for approval. In the past, subcontractors have not been used for these Agreements. See Attachments B and H for Contract Summary Forms.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

Appropriations for these Agreements are included in the Budget Control 063, Social Services Agency FY 2019-20 Budget and will be included in the budgeting process for future years.

The Bridge Program Emergency Child Care Voucher Services is funded by Federal Title IV-E (23 percent) and State Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children (77 percent) funds. The Child Care Navigator and Trauma-Informed and Coaching Services is funded by Federal Title IV-E (50 percent) and State Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children (50 percent) funds.

Contingency of Funds

The proposed Agreements 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 Agreements remain in effect or operation. In the event such funding is terminated or reduced, the County may terminate the Agreement(s), reduce the County's maximum obligation or modify the Agreement(s), without penalty.

STAFFING IMPACT:

N/A

ATTACHMENT(S):

Attachment A - Agreement with Children's Home Society of California for the Provision of Bridge Program Emergency Child Care Voucher Services, #CML0420
Attachment B - Contract Summary Form, #CML0420
Attachment C - Summarized Score Sheet, Bridge Voucher
Attachment D - Individual Score Sheets with RFP Questions for Bridge Voucher Services
Attachment E - Risk Assessment or Modification of Insurance Terms, #CML0420
Attachment F - Agreement with Children's Home Society of California for the Provision of Bridge Program Child Care Navigator and Trauma-Informed Training and Coaching Services, #CML0920
Attachment G - Agreement with Children’s Home Society of California for the Provision of Bridge Program Child Care Navigator and Trauma-Informed Training and Coaching Services, Redline #CML0920
Attachment H - Contract Summary Form, #CML0920
Attachment I - Risk Assessment or Modification of Insurance Terms, #CML0920
Attachment J - Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) Section 11461.6
Attachment K - Education Code 8212
Attachment L - Senate Bill No. 89
Attachment M - ACL No. 18-75