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Exhibit 1 - Agenda Information SheetCity of Denton _____________________________________________________________________________________ AGENDA INFORMATION SHEET DEPARTMENT: Procurement ACM: Cassey Ogden DATE: September 17, 2024 SUBJECT Consider adoption of an ordinance of the City of Denton, a Texas home-rule municipal corporation, authorizing the City Manager to execute a contract with Quality Response Medical Staffing, LLC, for city jail phlebotomy services for the Police Department; providing for the expenditure of funds therefor; and providing an effective date (RFP 8602 – awarded to Quality Response Medical Staffing, LLC, for two (2) years, with the option for two (2) additional one (1) year extensions, in the total four (4) year not-to-exceed amount of $742,500.00). STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT This action supports Key Focus Area: Support Healthy and Safe Communities. INFORMATION/BACKGROUND Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) offenses are a significant public safety issue in the City of Denton. The city's growth, being home to three Universities/Colleges, the number of Interstate, US, and State highways within our jurisdiction, and the growing entertainment districts all contribute to the number of impaired driving incidents the police department responds to. In addition to the traditional alcohol-based DWI offenses, the number of drug-related or combined alcohol and drug-impaired driving instances is growing each year. The Police Department has recognized that obtaining blood specimens in these offenses is preferred over traditional breath tests. Several factors have contributed to this; a breath test does not detect legal or illegal narcotics which can be a source of impairment, officers cannot obtain a search warrant for a breath test if the person refuses to provide one, and the District Attorney’s office prefers blood tests as the blood specimen can be screened for multiple intoxicants and blood lab results provide a more precise blood alcohol concentration over a breath test. A person arrested for a DWI offense can consent to provide a breath or blood specimen or they can refuse. It is the working procedure of the Denton Police Department to apply for a search warrant on refusal cases and try to obtain a blood specimen using the search warrant. Rather than the previous “routine” for DWI arrest involving transporting the arrestee to one of two local hospitals and having medical staff perform the blood draw, the department has been taking the arrestee to the City of Denton Jail and doing in-house blood draws with the department's current vendor. Previously, the Police Department identified two significant concerns with the current operating procedures at the time for obtaining blood specimens from DWI arrestees. First, there is an officer safety concern, and second an overall lack of efficiency and use of department resources to obtain the specimens. Neither City Hall 215 E. McKinney Street Denton, Texas www.cityofdenton.com hospital charges the City any fee to perform the blood draws, but that does not leave the department with any leverage when wait times become excessive at the hospitals either. The officer safety issues arise from the fact the department is taking an intoxicated, and often unpredictable, person to an unsecured facility and having to remove the handcuffs to complete the blood draw. In instances where the arrestee has already resisted arrest and is secured in a more complex restraint device known as the WRAP, one of their arms still has to be freed in most cases for the medical professional to perform the blood draw. There have been instances of physical altercations happening in the hospitals during the blood draw procedure. There is a chance that an innocent bystander could be injured during one of these altercations. Under the current program, in 2024, the average time for a consent draw is approximately 32 minutes. Non- consent draws, which require the officer to apply for a search warrant, take approximately 79 minutes when done in the jail. The average non-consent draw at the hospital is approximately two (2) hours. Blood draws under the program January-June 2024 total 344 draws. The current program not only allows for faster draws, but they are completed in a safer environment for the officers, medical staff, and detainees. In January of 2024, the Police Department submitted a grant application to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) under their General Traffic Safety Grants program to reimburse the City the majority of the costs of hiring a phlebotomist/phlebotomy company to staff the city jail seven nights a week to perform blood draws “in-house” for their 2024-2025 FY. The grant application was approved by City Council on January 23, 2024, under Resolution 23-2455. This is the third time the department has applied for this grant. The department previously received this grant for FY ’22-’23 and FY ’23-’24. While DWI arrests are made around the clock, the great majority of them are late night / early morning hours. The grant was written to reimburse the city part of the costs of hiring a phlebotomist(s) for the hours of 8 pm to 6 am to cover peak hours. The grant was awarded in September of 2023 and funding was released in November 2023 for FY 2024 and roughly the same timeline expected for the 2025 grant. The services will continue to give the department more control over the process by reducing reliability on hospital staff, increasing safety as the blood draws will be conducted in a secure environment, and becoming more efficient as officers will not have the transport time to the hospital coupled with the wait time of the hospital staff. In consent cases, the arrestee will be brought to the jail, searched, and taken into the blood draw room and the draw performed. They would then be booked into the jail. In refusal cases, the arrestee would be brought to the jail, searched, and turned over to the jail staff for book-in while the officer prepares the search warrant affidavit. Using electronic search warrant capabilities, the department already possesses, officers can have the search warrant issued within minutes after submitting the affidavit to the judge. The Police Department believes the average time between custody and a blood specimen being obtained can be reduced by 30% on consent and non-consent draws. This will allow officers to complete the arrest sooner, thereby returning them to active duty quicker and getting them back on the street. More importantly, this will allow them to complete a vital part of their investigations in a safe and secure environment, reducing the risk to everyone involved. The Department has budgeted $168,750 for this project for FY 2024 and the same amount for FY 2025- 2027 if the contract is extended. The Traffic Safety Grant will reimburse up to $135,000 of the costs for the 2025 fiscal year. After reference checks, the staff feels that Quality Response Medical Staffing, LLC is an established business that has experience working with larger entities and possesses the competence to perform the work requested. Below is the information Quality Response Medical Staffing, LLC provided regarding the wages they pay their employees who will be assigned to the City’s contract. Position Description Number of Assigned Employees Hourly Rate of Assigned Employees Phlebotomist Two (2) assigned employees $21.75 per hour Phlebotomist PRN (Backup) One (1) assigned employee $22.00 per hour Request for Proposals was sent to 247 prospective suppliers, including 30 Denton firms. In addition, specifications were placed on the Procurement website for prospective suppliers to download and advertised in the local newspaper. Two (2) proposals were received, references were checked, and proposals were evaluated based upon published criteria including work plan, staffing, probable performance, and price. Best and Final Offers (BAFO) were requested from the top firm. Based upon this evaluation, Quality Response Medical Staffing, LLC was ranked the highest and determined to be the best value for the City. NIGP Code Used for Solicitation: 948 - Health Related Services & 952- Human Services Notifications sent for Solicitation sent in IonWave: 247 Number of Suppliers that viewed Solicitation in IonWave: 6 HUB-Historically Underutilized Business Invitations sent out: 39 SBE-Small Business Enterprise Invitations sent out: 104 Responses from Solicitation: 2 RECOMMENDATION Award a contract with Quality Response Medical Staffing, LLC, for city jail phlebotomy services for the Police Department, in a two (2) year, with the option for two (2) additional one (1) year extensions, in the total four (4) year not-to-exceed amount of $742,500. PRINCIPAL PLACE OF BUSINESS Quality Response Medical Staffing, LLC Schertz, TX ESTIMATED SCHEDULE OF PROJECT This is an initial two (2) year contract with options to extend the contract for two (2) additional one (1) year periods, with all terms and conditions remaining the same. FISCAL INFORMATION These services will be funded from DWI Phlebotomy account 308807.7899. Requisition #165831 has been entered into the Purchasing software system in the amount of $5,000 for the remainder of the fiscal year. The budgeted amount for this item is $742,500. EXHIBITS Exhibit 1: Agenda Information Sheet Exhibit 2: Pricing Evaluation Exhibit 3: Ordinance and Contract Respectfully submitted: Lori Hewell, 940-349-7100 Purchasing Manager For information concerning this acquisition, contact: Logan Mayfield, 940-349-8126. Legal point of contact: Marcella Lunn at 940-349-8333.