Legislators press Department of Corrections on on-call engineering contract and Wellpath health-services amendment

Legislators pressed the Department of Corrections officials about an on-call engineering contract with McClellan Consulting and questioned whether the contract could be used for construction of a proposed new prison. The committee also considered an amendment to a large health-services contract with Wellpath and questioned the contractor about use of Arkansas vendors.

Staff told the committee McClellan's on-call engineering contract is an ongoing procurement unrelated to construction of the new facility; the office of state procurement had removed a separate Division of Community Correction contract from the agenda to do further work. Representative Love and Senator Hester asked directly whether McClellan would be engaged on the new project. Chad Brown of the Department of Corrections said the on-call contract is for general ongoing facility needs across the department's roughly 28 facilities and that he could not confirm whether McClellan would work on the new facility; he offered to get more detailed answers before Friday. Senator Tucker asked whether the department was committed not to use funds from the contract on the Franklin County facility; Brown said he would consult leadership and report back.

The committee also considered an amendment to a major health-services contract with Wellpath (a vendor providing medical services to corrections facilities). Wellpath executives told the committee they had solicited Arkansas-based subcontractors and reached out to roughly 70 Arkansas vendors but received limited responses; the company said about 69% of contract costs remain in Arkansas through staffing and local subcontractors. Legislators — including Senator Hester, Senator Gilmore and Representative Beatty — urged Wellpath to expand use of in-state providers where feasible. Wellpath said it had issued an internal RFP and received some responsive local pharmacy vendors but struggled to find in-state vendors willing to operate inside correctional facilities.

Committee staff said the original Wellpath contract carried a total approved authority of $235,000,000 and the amendment before the committee changed the scope and staffing matrix without adding new funding. The transcript records committee members' concerns and a motion to review the contracts; committee members asked the agency for follow-up information on whether McClellan would be used on any new prison construction and whether in-state vendors could be engaged for portions of the Wellpath scope.