Asleep at the wheel
County falls down on recovery house oversight
Local government often needs the help of outside consultants, agencies and businesses to fulfill its myriad obligations to citizens. Getting that help means asking for job bids or issuing requests for proposals ( RFPs) from would- be providers.
Allegheny County took the latter tack when the Department of Human Services in 2017 sought proposals from agencies interested in operating addiction recovery houses that serve as a bridge between inpatient treatment ( or jail) and independent living, clearly a critical service for those attempting to break the chains of addiction. The county reviewed the proposals from the RFP process and awarded four contracts. So far, so good. Then things broke down. The human services department did not ensure that the providers actually did what they said they would do.
The result was several shocking failures — lack of resident drug testing and employee training to name two. But, the biggest failure was the county’s general lack of oversight.
County Controller Chelsa Wagner has taken to task the department and rightly so.
Though the county’s decision to enter into contracts with agencies was based on the proposals that resulted from the RFP process, the content of the contracts — the pledges made by the agencies — was not codified in the actual contracts nor was the agencies’ performance bird- dogged for compliance with state and local regulations.
In an eyebrow- raising response to the audit findings, human services director Marc Cherna wrote that the RFP document amounted to “aspirational goals.” He said that “any goals or measures contained in the RFP were never meant to be absolute requirements;
if so, the RFP would have been incorporated into the contract.”
That’s problem No. 1. The RFP should have been incorporated into the contract. If not, what is the point of the agency’s proposal? What would stop a prospective contractor, consultant or provider from dreaming up a proposal that lacks the intent, the will or the way to follow through?
Ms. Wagner’s audit disclosed that one agency failed to get a zoning variance from the city, which resulted in a suspension of services. This could have been avoided if Mr. Cherna’s people had done the bare minimum and asked for copies of all required permits and licenses.
Ms. Wagner also found that the human services department didn’t make site visits, didn’t train staff in how to administer the opioid overdose treatment Narcan, and — incomprehensibly — didn’t ensure that residents of the homes were being tested for drugs or alcohol.
“Spending taxpayer money without clear expectations or accountability is always unacceptable, but when we are dealing with the lives of vulnerable members of our community, that performance benchmarks are not being clearly articulated much less met is truly distressing,” Ms. Wagner wrote in a news release.
Addiction recovery is a process fraught with inherently difficult obstacles. Those making that journey should not face additional hurdles from being placed in a home not up to meeting their needs. The first step the county DHS must undertake is a restructuring of its RFP process. Proposals should be realistic — not “aspirational.” Pledges made by wouldbe providers should be incorporated into contracts. And DHS staff must commit to running an operation that demands that promises are kept.