ALC - REVIEW

AI recap

Transcript

We'll call the Reuse Up Committee to order. Co-chair, do you got anything? If not, then we're going to go to the Methods of Finance. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, members. Katie Walden, Bureau of Legislative Research, Fiscal Division. Item B on your agenda is the Method of Finance for your review this month. You'll see the first page is a cover letter for Mr. Dan Brassert, administrator for the DFA Office of Accounting, stating there's one project for your review today. And then if you look at page three of Item B, you'll see that project detailed. It is for the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. This updates an existing Method of Finance for their Maple Hill District Steam to Hot Water conversion. They state they want to build a new physical plant system using heated hot water to convert to heat for all the buildings in this district, including some new dormitories. They're updating this project to be 25 million using bond proceeds. This is the Method of Finance. Any questions? Seeing none, I'd accept a motion. Motion and a second. All in favor say aye. All opposed, like sign. Thank you, members. Go on to the discretionary grants. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Item C is the discretionary grant for your review today. Item 1 from the Department of Human Services, Division of Agent Adults and Behavioral Health. This is an amendment to an existing grant to rec-solve recovery solutions. This adds a million dollars in federal funding for the restoration of a unit within the Arkansas State Hospital. All right, whose phone is going off? Let me shut that thing down. Any questions? Seeing none? Motion and a second. All in favor say aye. All opposed, like sign. Thank you, members. We're going to ratifications. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Item D includes all of the contracts and ratifications for your review today. The first page of item D you'll see a letter from OSP Director Ms. Jessica Patterson. She presents the contracts that were identified having imminent need for review this month. And she also states that there are two ratification requests, which she outlines in this letter. And finally she includes the listing of the contracts that were procured this month using the traditional or most advantageous proposal method. There is just one because the second one was pulled. So that's her cover letter. Now moving to the ratifications. There are two. The first is with the Department of Shared Administrative Services Division of Building Authority. This is for security services at the Army Navy Hospital Property and Hot Springs. They state that they have a contract for security services and they recently updated the date on that contract to extend through FY27. However, they inadvertently forgot to increase the contract amount. And so those services have continued. So today they request her ratification of payments for services provided in the interim as well as to extend the payments through the remainder of the contract life. So that's ratification number one. And the second one is with the Department of Veterans Affairs. You'll see in the letter they have received services for mental health and podiatry services from an MDB health services. They originally had a PO for this provider. However, over the course of time that provider continued to provide services and did not submit invoices. And finally recently they submitted a lump sum of invoices. And so the Department of Veterans Affairs request to pay those invoices as well as to continue services. And you'll see both of these contracts later on in your packet. So those are the two ratifications for your review today. Any questions on the ratifications? Seeing none. Except motion. Motion. Second. All in favor say aye. Opposed like sign. Thank you members. Go on to the construction related contracts. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Item D2 or the construction related contracts for today. There are four. The first one is Department of Energy and Environment with Craft and Toll and Associates. This is a amendment three to an existing contract. And this is for engineering services for the abandoned coal mine land reclamation project. This was also discussed in peer earlier today. Number two, Department of the Military of Burns and McDonald Engineering Company. This is a new original contract valued at $1.3 million for architect and engineer services. And this is for a consolidated aircraft maintenance fuel system maintenance and corrosion control facility. Number three, Department of Military with Cromwell Architects and Engineers. This is a new contract for $3.6 million for architectural and engineering design services for a health services facility that will be $44,000 square feet. Finally, Department of Military with Wittenburg, the Lonean, Davinson, a new contract for $827,000 also for architectural and engineering design services. These are the construction contracts. Representative, ladies, I don't have a question on number one or any other questions. There you go. Where's my deal any? I'll introduce yourself and I represent a light and you'll be recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Andrea Hopkins, government affairs specialist, energy and environment. Oh, Barnbell, Chief of Staff. Thank you all for coming back down again. I was looking at number one on D2 there. We're talking about that coal mine closure abandoned. It's like what is that half a million? Is this an average size project or? No, this is one of our larger projects. This is a larger one. So do we have a lot of these coal mines up in northwest Arkansas? I mean, what number roughly? I would say some of our on our IJA application, the federal grants, there's probably 10 listed. We have four or five that we expect are over $3 million. The rest would be smaller than that. We have an on-call contract for design for projects less than two million. So we try to rotate the projects through that. So this is just for the engineering design services. Is that right or is this the actual work? No, this is only for design. Once the design is finished, it will go out for bid for the actual construction. So are these federal funds? 100% federally funded. 100%. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Representative. I don't know if anybody else have any questions. It may be something good to do with your engineering degree after you get done with the legislature. Thank you, guys. Any other questions on the other other ones? Seeing none, take a motion, motion in a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, Lexan. Thank you, members. Going to out-of-state contracts. Thank you, Mr. Chair, D3. In your packet are the out-of-state contracts for your review. The first three, one, two, and three are all the Department of Finance and Administration Racing Commission. These are all for veterinarians at Oakland and services provided to the Racing Commission. That takes us to page two. Contract number four is with Department of Health with ICF macro. This is amendment one to an existing contract. And it is for the completion of interviews for their behavioral risk factor surveillance system administered by the CDC. Number five, DHS with computer aid incorporated. This is a new contract for lead developer services for database upgrades, support, and application development and testing. Number six, DHS with EGA associates. This is amendment one to an existing contract. This is for psychological examination services at the Boonville Human Development Center. Contract number seven was pulled. Number eight, DHS with health care management solutions. This is a new original contract. And this is for funding surveys of nursing homes to improve the accessibility availability quality and accountability of services delivered by DHS. Number nine, Department of Public Safety with one spatial incorporated. This is a amendment two to an existing contract. And it is for data validation software for the next generation 911 and GIS data validation services for the state's emergency services IP network. Number 10, Department of Transformation Cert Services Building Authority Division. This is with universal protection service. This is a amendment two to an existing contract. And this is for the update for the previous ratification that you all reviewed. This extends this contract and increases the amount. And number 11 also, Department of Veterans Affairs with MDB Health Services. This is the new original contract that is associated with the ratification you all previously reviewed. These are the out of state contracts. Any questions on those 11 Senator Rice? I don't need them to come up. Just need a wife who's here with DDS or I can get you after committee. Okay, I'll get you here in a bit. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Senator. Any other questions on those 11? Seeing none. Make a motion. Take motion in a second. All in favor say aye. All opposed. Like sign. Thank you, members. We'll go to in state contracts. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Item D4 are the in state contracts. Number one is with DFA Racing Commission. This is another veterinarian providing services at Oakland. This is a amendment five to an existing contract. Number two, DHS with Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care. This is a new original contract valued at $48.4 million. And this is for the establishment of a customer service center for the Department of Human Services. Number three, DHS, DCFS with girls' shelter of Fort Smith. This is a new original contract for a qualified residential treatment program there. Number four, DHS, DDS with Karen Armore. This is a amendment two to an existing contract for psychological services at the Conway Human Development Center. And finally, number five is with University of Arkansas and driven towing. This is a new original contract, and it is for parking management services at Garvin Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs. And this is to provide services for their holiday lights display and their tulip extravaganza and other special events. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let me have the DHS come down. Human Services. Come down, DHS. Representative Kavanaugh has a question. It's on D2. Good afternoon, Kim Gardiner, DHS. Thank you, Mr. Chair, right here in the front. On this call center, is this call center going to be located in Arkansas? Yes. Okay. So when someone calls to Arkansas, they were speaking to in Arkansas. That is correct. Okay. And then the other question I have is the $48 million. That is for three years. Yes. Okay. It looks like the first year is higher. And then it gets cheaper the second and third year. Am I correct? That is correct. Okay. My understanding is that also will start out with Medicaid. And then you're wanting to move it to other services also? Yes. That's correct. Okay. The $48 million that we're looking is that for the cost of Medicaid only? Or is that got projected? The other services coming online also? I'm not sure if that projects out with our other programs, I'll need to take that back and double check unless we have someone from the program that can clarify. If they could, appreciate it. Introduce yourself and you're recognized. Hi. Melissa Weatherton, Medicaid specialty divisions. So there is a plan, Representative Kavanaugh, we're starting with the verification center for the our home recipients. And then month over month, they're rolling in different programs of what they're going to answer, including SNAP questions and answers. So this $48 million includes everything essentially except DCFS and questions around division of these services. Okay. So it's going to roll in everything but DCFS. These first three years. Okay. And division of these services. Okay. When will those come online? Will they come online also to this program? That is the same call center. That is the goal is so people aren't bounced around and so they'll be able to answer very specific questions if they receive services for us. So it'll be the following four years. Okay. All right. I appreciate it. Thank you. Representative Laitman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, my question is on number two as well. But now is this the one door program? I mean, this is more than a call center. This is this is not the one door program. No, sir. Not not. I think the one door program that's being discussed in a difference of committee, no, sir. So we put out a request for information in the summer about three years ago. We receive a very high volume of calls and complaints, as you can imagine. We're operating multiple phone numbers, multiple mailboxes across our county offices getting calls at each one of our divisions. We do not have a coordinated system in place to be able to take those calls, track those calls, and give accurate, quick information across multiple programs. So three years ago, we started saying we need to do something different. So we put out our request for information, got multiple bidders on that. We took their proposals and drafted this RFP with the end goal being that we have a one phone number eventually for people to call who receive services from us to get their questions answered quickly and accurately and not just ever the phone, which is why we named it the customer service center instead of a call center. The goal is for them to start using chat functionality to be able to ask questions on their phone, to be proactive, to have multiple lines of communication. We're rolling in different pieces of artificial intelligence. We carefully wrote that into the RFP of our expectations around how they would roll that out. We've asked them to bring a CRM or a case management platform. We also asked with that platform that DHS be allowed to have 1500 licenses. So our goal is that people who take calls at DHS over the next seven years will be able to see exactly what this customer service center is saying so we're not giving duplicative or incorrect information. And we've also asked them to bring to the table a closed loop resource center so that, for example, if someone contacts the customer service center needs to apply for food stamps, needs not, but needs food right then, they can make a referral through their Find Help platform to get them connected to a food pantry. And we want to know that they actually went to that food pantry and were given food. So we've asked for it to be closed loop so it refers back to us. So we'll be able to see that in the system. Well, that sounds like, that sounds good and something we really need. I agree with that. But the question, the thing about error percentage of errors at the dinner's different centers, county centers, and I asked the question whether we could tell if these calls are transferred, say it's a constituent from one county and it goes to another county operation. So we couldn't really, might not be able to zero in on where the mistakes are being made. Will this affect that? Will this verify that we can tell who handled that client? And so when we're looking, because this is going to cost us a lot of money if we don't do it right. So we can zero in on the counties and the individuals that have issues and know how to solve those, is this going to help that problem? Yes. Yes. So you'll be able to tell exactly which county operation and which individual handle that. So the goal would be for it to go to the customer service center, let them answer the question, and enter it into the case management platform, which we will have access to. So not only you'll be able to see the person that works for the vendor who answered the question, then if they called me and I gave them bad information and entered it into the portal, then my name would now be in there as a second person they've talked to when I gave them inaccurate information. So we should be able to drill down to where the problem areas are. Is that correct? Yes. I mean, ultimately the goal is to have our workforce as DCO handling eligibility, getting people enrolled in food stamps. But for we are getting so many calls and questions that are coming in from all directions. And just who you get on to the who you get on the phone, right, is as good as it is, with no tracking system at this point to see what they've been told and who has talked to them. Okay. And we are trying to correct that. All right, thank you. Representative Panger. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I know you said the call center is going to be an Arkansas but I forgot where do you say it was going to be in Arkansas. So we're contracting with AFMC and as a part of their proposal response, they've just indicated that the majority of their workers will be remote but within the state. So they could be central Arkansas or in other areas in Arkansas. So it's not one centers, it's going to be a bunch of people from across. Correct. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Bentley, is it on the same? Yes, sir. Representative Bentley. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you all for being here. So how many employees are we looking at at this point that we're going to hire? Do you know? I don't have that number in front of me, but we do have it. It was a part of their proposal response and so we can get that for you. Thank you. A quick follow-up. Is this going to, does this allow for a platform? A new platform? Is this funding going to provide a new platform so that our workers could all be able to talk together? So the local case managers and these people at the call center, whether, whatever you call them, can talk as well. Correct. Okay. So can you tell us a little bit more? About the new platform that's being built with this funding? Sure. So AFMC proposed a Salesforce platform which they are calling their product AFMC engage. And that will be the customer relationship management part of their solution. And then that their solution will integrate with our Medicaid integrated eligibility system, as well as our core Medicaid claim system, so that any information that is relevant to the beneficiaries, which most of it will be, right? Then that information will be integrated with those two existing systems so that we can keep information streamlined. Chairman, could I have a couple more questions? Absolutely. So with a number of these clients, we're going to have an hour work requirements. So are there any of these people going to assist to these folks with where they might be able to find employment, connecting with workforce solutions across the states? And so many great things with education and workforce. Are there going to be educated to help these people connect with workforce as well? Absolutely. That is part of the initial phase of the rollout is to be able to provide outreach capabilities through multiple means of media, analytics, phone call, etc. And so part of that outreach includes where they can get help as it relates to the work requirement compliance. And what type of training are these employees going to have? What type of education and training are they going to have? Training for the AFMC staff. We'll be partnering with AFMC with also with our division of county operations to make sure that they have updated information, training scripts, etc. Over time, we're hoping that that knowledge base will be increased and they will be well versed to answer any question that comes their way. Thank you, Chairman. Representative, about half of that contract yearly is staffing costs, but it's over $7 million. So it's a pretty good amount. Any other questions on those five out of state or in state contracts? Seeing none. Except a motion. Motion. And then a second. All in favor say aye. All opposed. Like sign. Thank you, members. Any other anything else come for the committee? Seeing none, we are adjourned. Any other questions? Any other questions?