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Extracted from Consolidated Report

This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.

Amador County Grand Jury • 2016-2017

Creating Competition or Choosing Sides?

56 pages
View PDF View Full Original

Findings and Recommendations 16 findings

F1 Page 71
Prior to the release of the RFP, ATCAA was sole source for programs which the County put out for bid.
Related Recommendations (2)
R1
Page 72
County restructure the bid process involving members of other counties to develop a conflict-free formation of Request for Proposals and Evaluations. (Findings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
R5
Page 72
Create a bid justification process and form to justify a decision to use a competitive contract process. (Findings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
F2 Page 71
County employees willingly worked with Principals to subvert ATCAA, a JPA formed by Amador and Tuolumne Counties.
No recommendations for this finding
F3 Page 71
Personal relationships with Principals led to favoritism.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Page 72
Develop quantifiable measurements of performance for contractors, and use other counties employees to audit. (Findings 3, 14, 16)
F4 Page 71
The HHS Director did not justify the existence of actual competition, which resulted in an RFP process for contracts being served by a sole-source JPA.
No recommendations for this finding
F5 Page 71
The HHS Director selected nine contracts for RFP, not based on need, but rather were “cherry picked” at the request of Nexus’ principal staff.
No recommendations for this finding
F6 Page 71
The HHS Director, being aware of the intent by Nexus principals to undermine and create Nexus while still employed by the JPA, failed to report this to the ATCAA ED or Amador County Supervisors on the ATCAA Board.
No recommendations for this finding
F7 Page 71
The HHS Director and GSA Director did not take action after being made aware of potential concerns with the proposals that had been submitted.
Related Recommendations (1)
R8
Page 72
Revise Protest Procedure to include discoveries after release of a Request for Proposal, and after bid awards. (Finding 7)
F8 Page 71
The HHS Director did not recuse himself from the evaluation process, until AFTER he had made key changes to the RFP process that directly benefitted Nexus.
No recommendations for this finding
F9 Page 71
There was purposeful alteration of the normal County RFP criteria, specifically to benefit Nexus. • Allowed use of letters of support instead of letters of recommendation • Allowed use of information for personnel that were known to remain working for competitor ATCAA, not Nexus • Changed weighting scores to benefit Nexus by weighing high on staff, but ignoring facility and entity performance history Health and Human Services Contracts 51
No recommendations for this finding
F10 Page 72
The County Proposals use evaluation weighting in which suitability of proposed facilities are no longer a criteria.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
Page 72
Require criteria for suitability of proposed facilities in all Health, Behavioral Health, and Social Services Request for Proposals. (Finding 10)
F11 Page 72
County staff intentionally did not inform a long serving JPA and sole source provider (ATCAA) of intentions to go out to RFP.
No recommendations for this finding
F12 Page 72
The timing of the RFP favored Nexus – it had advance notice. However, other potential bidders were given an unusually short and unreasonable response time.
No recommendations for this finding
F13 Page 72
The HHS Director engaged in purposeful communication with Nexus Principals (while still employed at ATCAA) to keep ATCAA senior manager uninformed.
No recommendations for this finding
F14 Page 72
The HHS Director has publicly shown bias by praising Nexus to other agencies and counties, recommending Nexus for additional grants.
No recommendations for this finding
F15 Page 72
County employees with a personal relationship were allowed to engage in the RFP process and evaluation.
No recommendations for this finding
F16 Page 72
County does not have an adequate method in which to quantify, measure, and establish performance for behavioral health and social services contracts.
No recommendations for this finding

Additional Recommendations 9

These recommendations are not explicitly linked to specific findings.