City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: September 13, 2022
Agenda Item: 5.F
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Andy Agle, Director, Community Services Department, Housing and Human Services
Subject: Award Bid #314 to Initium Health for Development of a Comprehensive Behavioral Health Strategy
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Award Bid #314 to Initium Health for the development of a comprehensive behavioral health strategy; and
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with Initium Health for two years for a total amount not to exceed $250,000, with future-year funding contingent on Council budget approval.
Summary
Providing access to behavioral healthcare is a core component in the City’s strategies and Council priorities of both addressing homelessness and maintaining clean and safe public spaces. While behavioral health is one of the Four Pillars of the Council-adopted strategy to address homelessness (Attachment A), both housed and unhoused Santa Monicans alike suffer from significant rates of behavioral health concerns. In response to these unmet needs, City Council set aside $250,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding (Attachment B) to advance this priority.
The City sought an expert team to develop a comprehensive behavioral health strategy that would identify system gaps, community priorities for the types of services needed, and recommendations for short- and long-term steps to meet those needs. The strategy would be built upon a robust community engagement process. A key outcome of the process would be to gather input on possible locations for, and the types of services 2 of 6
and populations that could be served by a 24/7 behavioral health model to fill a critical gap in the continuum of behavioral healthcare services locally, providing a muchneeded safe landing between crisis response and long-term treatment within Santa Monica borders. Due to resourcing and licensing constraints, the needs of the community may not be met with a single location or in a single project. Rather, the strategy may include several phases to develop a campus or cluster of facilities that can operate in coordination, serve different populations, and provide different levels of care.
The expert team will assess up to five City-selected sites and develop operating plans and cost estimates for each.
The City released the behavioral health feasibility study request for proposals (RFP) on March 15, 2022 and received two proposals by the May 24th closing date. After review by a team of community experts and interdepartmental staff, staff recommends that the City enter into a contract with Initium Health, a public-benefit corporation, for an amount not to exceed $250,000 for a two-year term.
Discussion
Because behavioral health is central to our wellbeing and has a direct impact on an individual’s ability to work, learn, and care for themselves and others, the City has developed and expanded collaborative partnerships to address the complex behavioral health needs of its residents. Such programs deliver integrated services right where people are – in their homes, public spaces, jails, hospitals, schools, and other institutions.
Through the RFP, the City sought an expert team to guide a community engagement process to inform a comprehensive behavioral health strategy, including assessing the feasibility of a 24/7 model. Community input would shape the operating priorities of a 24/7 model including the types of services provided, the populations to be served, and an assessment of the pros and cons of locally based/local-serving resources versus partnering with other local jurisdictions on a larger, regional facility. 3 of 6
Contingent upon Council approval, Initium would begin an estimated twelve-month scope of work, beginning with a community engagement process that is developed in partnership with an interdepartmental project committee. Community engagement would take 4-6 months to conduct and synthesize the collected input into priorities and preliminary recommendations. As part of the engagement process, Initium would seek feedback from the community on available sites. The following six months would be spent researching and analyzing local and regional data, in addition to community input, to draft a local behavioral health strategy, including materials and documents that could be used to seek funding for portions of the plan. Concurrently, Initium would be conducting a site analysis for up to five City-selected locations for the feasibility of a 24/7 strategy. Throughout the process, Initium and staff will keep Council informed, share findings from the community engagement process, return to Council for approval of the behavioral health strategy, and present final recommendations for Council consideration.
The City released the behavioral health strategy RFP on March 15, 2022, and the RFP was open through May 24, 2022. The RFP received 552 views and 30 vendors downloaded the documents. Four applications were started, and two were completed and submitted by the closing date.
Vendor Selection:
Bidder Recommendation
Best Qualified Firm Initium Health
Evaluation Criteria Qualifications/Experience/Technical Competence/Key Personnel; Previous Community Engagement Experience;
Stability/References; Ability to Meet Project Work
Plan/Timeliness; Cost of Services/Cost Control; Value
Add/Breadth of Service.
Municipal Code SMMC 2.24.190
RFPs Received
Initium Health Deloitte Consulting LLP
RFP Data
Posted On Posted On
Advertised In
(City Charter & SMMC)
Vendors
Downloaded
Date Publicly
Opened
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3/15/2022 City's Online
Bidding Site Santa Monica Daily Press 30 5/24/22
Best Bidder Justification
Based on the evaluation criteria, and criteria in SMMC 2.24.190, staff recommends Initium as the best qualified firm to conduct community engagement, develop a comprehensive local behavioral health strategy, and assess the feasibility of a 24/7 behavioral health center to serve the local community including estimates on capital costs, operating costs, and potential sources of funding. Initium proposes an exceptionally diverse team of experts in various elements of healthcare and behavioral healthcare that will be necessary and relevant to this scope of work. Initium recently successfully completed a very similar multi-jurisdictional scope of work in New Mexico and consulted in the design of a $20m recovery housing campus in Ohio. Initium’s cost proposal is also highly competitive and cost-effective.
A team of three community experts and three interdepartmental staff reviewed both eligible proposals. As a result of the review process, and pursuant to SMMC § 2.24.190, staff recommends the selection of Initium Health, a Colorado-based public benefit corporation, to conduct community engagement, develop a comprehensive behavioral health strategy that aligns with community-identified priorities, and assess the feasibility of a 24/7 behavioral health center to serve the local community including site assessment of up to five specific locations. The assessments would include estimates of capital costs, operating costs, and potential sources of funding.
Staff recommends Initium Health as the most qualified bidder with the most cost-effective application to complete the proposed scope of work. Initium recently completed a very similar scope of work for the City of Clovis, New Mexico in a regional collaboration that included a community engagement process that encompassed four counties and three cities, a systems gap analysis, and comparative analysis of system performance using local and regional data to develop a set of recommendations that included a feasibility assessment for a 96-bed facility.
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Initium also worked with the City of Clovis to secure a grant to initiate the project. In another project, Initium was brought in by Google affiliate Verily to inform the design of their flagship recovery housing campus in Ohio, named One Fifteen after the number of people who died of overdoses every day across the country in 2016. Using international data and best practices to use architecture specifically to support recovery, Initium created layouts that are patient-focused, not staff-focused, that transformed institutional settings into recovery settings, while balancing safety and security.
Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
3/26/2019
(Attachment A)
City Council adopts Four Pillar strategy to address homelessness 4/13/2021
(Attachment B)
City Council approved the allocation of $250,000 in one-time funds to support efforts to pursue non-congregate shelter and behavioral health priorities as part of the City’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) spending plan.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve funding from the “ARPA-Homelessness Feasibility” account to award a contractual services agreement with Initium Health to conduct community engagement, develop a comprehensive behavioral health strategy, and conduct a feasibility assessment for a 24/7 behavioral health center to serve local needs.
Contract Request
Request
Amount
FY 2022-23 Budget
Department/CIP Account #
Total Contract
Amount
$250,000 01400009.552010.99067 $250,000
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Prepared By: Margaret Willis, Administrator
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. March 26, 2019 Staff Report (web link)
B. April 13, 2021 Staff Report (web link)
C. OAKS FORM_Initium Health
D. Written Comments