COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Human Services Agency

 

DATE:

February 10, 2010

BOARD MEETING DATE:

April 13, 2010

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

 

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Beverly Beasley Johnson, Director of Human Services Agency

SUBJECT:

Agreement with Northwoods Consulting Partners, Inc.

 

RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt a Resolution:

 

A)

Waiving the Request for Proposal process; and

   

B)

Authorizing the President of the Board to execute an Agreement with Northwoods Consulting Partners, Inc. for the provision of document imaging services for the term of April 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011, in the amount of $1,253,318. There is no Net County Cost.

   

C)

Authorizing the Director of the Human Services Agency or the Director’s designee to execute contract amendments which modify the County’s maximum fiscal obligation by no more than $25,000 (in aggregate), and/or modify the contract term and/or services so long as the modified term or services is/are within the current or revised fiscal provisions.

 

BACKGROUND:

In 2008, Northwoods Consulting Partners, Inc. was chosen through a Request for Proposal process to implement a reliable and scalable document management system infrastructure, integrating with the County’s Medi-Cal client management system for the retrieval of imaged case files.

 

The Agreement with Northwoods Consulting Partners, Inc. expired on December 30, 2009. The intention was to extend the Agreement to allow the Contractor to continue to implement Phase II of the project. However, the Amendment was not done in time.

 

DISCUSSION:

The document management system eliminates the need for storage space by converting paper files into digital files and makes case file information easy to access by Medi-Cal program staff.

 

This new Agreement with Northwoods Consulting Partner, Inc. will provide the automation foundation for improving business process efficiencies and resolving document imaging challenges. Additionally, improvements to the document management system will eliminate the potential for lost or misplaced documents and allow for documents to be immediately available to others. This Agreement also includes maintenance and updates to the document management system.

 

This Agreement will be evaluated at the end of its term to determine if further improvements or services are needed. The Board of Supervisors is being asked to waive the Request for Proposal (RFP) process as the document management system uses proprietary software of Northwood Consulting Partners, Inc. and it would be costly to redesign a new system with another provider.

 

The Contractor has assured compliance with the County's Contractor Employee Jury Service Ordinance, as well as all other contract provisions that are required by County ordinance and administrative memoranda, including but not limited to insurance, hold harmless, non-discrimination and equal benefits. County Counsel has reviewed and approved the Resolution and Agreement as to form and Risk Management has approved the Contractor’s insurance.

 

Approval of this Agreement contributes to the Shared Vision 2025 outcome of a Prosperous Community by enabling staff to reduce the number of case related documents copied at the Regional Offices. It is anticipated the number of copies will be reduced by 50% for FY 2009-10, and 90% for FY 2010-11 which will increase staff availability and minimize the number of case related documents transferred between offices, as well as ensuring the security and privacy of Medi-Cal Personal Identifiable Information as required by County Welfare Department. These performance target project increases in the next fiscal year.

Performance Measure:

Measure

FY 2009-10
Target

FY 2010-11

Target

Reduce the number of case related documents copied at the Regional Offices

50%*

90%

Reduce the number of case related documents transferred to our Centralized Imaging Center

25%*

75%

*The targeted numbers are low because there will not be a full year of tracking available by the end of 2010.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The term of this Agreement is April 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011.  The total obligation is $1,253,318, of which $950,000 is funded through the MediCal MEDs Security Allocation and $303,318 is funded through the regular MediCal allocation for Eligibility Administration.  Appropriations have been included in the FY 2009-10 Adopted Budget and will be included in the FY 2010-11 Recommended Budget. There is no Net County Cost.