Shasta County supervisors were scheduled to consider directing staff to issue a request for proposals for the allocation of up to $1.5 million in opioid settlement funds and creating a committee to review applications, according to a Sept. 29 staff report.
The report recommends a three-member county staff evaluation committee rather than an ad hoc committee of supervisors. The proposed members are Erin Bertain, deputy county executive officer; Tracie Neal, chief probation officer; and Cindy Lane, Health and Human Services Agency branch director.
The proposed structure is intended to separate application review from approval of contracts that could result from the RFP. The report says competitive-procurement best practices recommend keeping those responsibilities separate to avoid actual or perceived conflicts of interest. The County Purchasing Department provided information, with input from the National Institute of Government Procurements and the California Association of Public Procurement, the report says.
Supervisor Matt Plummer sponsored the item and approved the staff report. The Board of Supervisors had previously directed staff on Aug. 11 to agendize discussion of an RFP for up to $1.5 million and an application-review committee.
The staff report says there would be no additional General Fund impact and that any resulting contracts would be funded through opioid settlement dollars. The report does not document a final vote on the Sept. 29 recommendation, nor does it identify an RFP timeline, scoring criteria or eventual award recipients.
