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SR 08-23-2022 5H City Council Report City Council Meeting: August 23, 2022 Agenda Item: 5.H 1 of 4 To: Mayor and City Council From: David White, City Manager, City Manager's Office Subject: Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with Keystone Medical Resources, Inc for Citywide Employee COVID-19 Contact Tracing and Internal Healthcare Advisement Recommended Action Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with Keystone Medical Resources, Inc for city-wide, employee COVID-19 contact tracing and internal healthcare advisement. This recommended award is made as an exception to the competitive bidding process pursuant to Section 2.24.250 (i) and is for a total amount not to exceed $150,000 with future year funding contingent on Council budget approval. Summary Starting in November 2021 with the COVID-19 Omicron variant outbreak, the Santa Monica Emergency Operations Center, with the administrative direction from the Office of Emergency Management, transitioned COVID-19 contact tracing activities away from City personnel to an existing City vendor, Keystone Medical Resources, due to the specific skills and healthcare training necessary to determine “close contacts”, quarantine, and isolation protocols for City staff as related to COVID-19. The City has approximately 2,000 employees who have access to this emergency service. Contact tracing was mandated for employees required to work on-site and potentially exposed to COVID-19. The City sought the services of Keystone Medical Resources, Inc to provide professional services related to COVID-19 contact tracing and medical advisement from a registered nurse after business hours, over the weekend, and throughout the work week, as required. Keystone Medical Resources, Inc was a vetted 5.H Packet Pg. 95 2 of 4 vendor through the City’s Risk Division and had previously shown to provide the needed medical support for services requested of the Finance Department. Staff now seeks authority to enter a professional services contract with Keystone Medical Resources, Inc to provide these ongoing contact tracing services for an amount not to exceed $150,000 through the end of the COVID-19 emergency order. Staff will seek reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) for all qualifying costs associated with this service. Discussion In preparation for a winter 2021 COVID-19 surge, the City’s Emergency Operations Center sought professional services for the implementation of COVID-19 contact tracing and medical advisement services. Under the emergency response model utilized from March 2020 through November 2021, the City utilized as-needed and full-time staff to support contact tracing activities; however, the complexity of the medical care requested required services from trained medical professionals during and outside of normal business hours. In anticipation of higher call volume and complex contact tracing cases, the City on- boarded a temporary vendor to support three months of contact tracing. Under the initial agreement, the staff expected cost to remain under the approved procurement threshold of $25,000; due to the spread of the omicron variant, cases increased and did not return to manageable levels which could be supported by staff internally. In response to this surge, the City instituted enhanced contact tracing to ensure operational continuity of vital City services as well as enhance public trust that accessing such services will be safe. Due to an expedited timeline, and in alignment with the emergency powers and provisions of the Santa Monica Municipal Code, staff were unable to seek formal proposals; however, staff did negotiate a reasonable cost with the selected vendor for an hourly rate of $95 per hour with a guaranteed minimum of 35 hours of service per month. Staff referenced existing agreements and fee schedules with the selected 5.H Packet Pg. 96 3 of 4 vendor to determine reasonable cost for the professional services. The Risk Management Division conducted an informal evaluation and found the quote provided by the vendor for nursing services was consistent with similar services provided to the City in the area of medical advisement and worker’s compensation. The City provides this emergency contact tracing service solely to City staff and will discontinue this service once the emergency order has been lifted or COVID-19 infections reduce to a level where professional medical services are no longer required. The cost for these services from November 1, 2021, to date is approximately $55,000 and within the approval authority of the City Manager. Staff anticipates the $150,000 authority will provide contact tracing services through the end of FY 2022-23. The City remains eligible for reimbursement for qualifying expenses from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) associated with the COVID-19 emergency. FEMA is currently reimbursing 100 percent of eligible costs through June 30, 2022, and 90 percent for cost incurred on or after July 1, 2022. Staff will seek reimbursement from FEMA for all qualifying COVID expenditures for as long as permissible. All reimbursements received from the FEMA will be allocated to the City’s General Fund. Timelines associated with receiving reimbursement may be extended and will depend on requests for information and grant operations being conducted by FEMA. The Financial Operations Division with the support of the Office of Emergency Management will immediately track all cost allocated to this project. Upon completion of the project, Staff will submit a project (application) to FEMA with the full cost associated with this project. Financial Impacts and Budget Actions Staff seeks authority to approve funding from the General Fund to award a contract with Keystone Medical Resources, Inc. for COVID-19 contact tracing and related services for City employees. Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval. The City anticipates to recover ninety and one-hundred percent of the cost associated with this contract, as these services are eligible for reimbursement through FEMA under the COVID-19 Presidential Declaration. 5.H Packet Pg. 97 4 of 4 Contract Request FY 2021-22 FY 2022-23 Department Account # Total Contract Amount  $55,000 $95,000 01200014.553150   $150,000 Prepared By: Steven Torrence, Emergency Services Administrator Approved Forwarded to Council Attachments: A. 20202 Keystone Oaks Form 5.H Packet Pg. 98 5.H.a Packet Pg. 99 Attachment: 20202 Keystone Oaks Form [Revision 1] (5264 : Agreement with Keystone for COVID Contact Tracing)