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Fiscal Review Committee: votes at a glance on contracts and extensions
Summary
The Fiscal Review Committee approved a series of contract amendments and extensions, postponed two items for follow-up, and adopted a committee review of vendor eligibility after reports of prior violations.
The Fiscal Review Committee voted on multiple state contract amendments and extensions during its meeting. Several amendments were approved; two items were postponed for further information; and the committee asked staff to investigate a policy to bar firms with significant violations from receiving new contracts or extensions for five years.
Why it matters: The committee oversees multi-year and high-dollar state contracts and regularly adjusts approval terms to match a long-standing committee preference for three-year contracts with one- or two-year extensions. Today's votes affect health, corrections, eligibility systems and workforce training programs across state government.
The committee recorded the following formal actions at the meeting.
- Consent calendar (statewide contracts): Approved by voice vote. Outcome: approved. Notes: routine statewide contracts and agency terms advanced by voice vote.
- Department of Labor and Workforce Development — Fast Enterprises LLC (unemployment benefits system amendment): Approved. Motion to continue managed hosting services and increase maximum liability by $2,025,760, bringing the unemployment benefits contract maximum to $41,744,855. Outcome: approved. Notes: managed hosting covers cloud hosting, monitoring, security, disaster recovery and availability under the state's cloud tenant on AWS.
- Department of Labor and Workforce Development — Fast Enterprises LLC (unemployment tax system amendment): Approved. Amendment to add managed hosting services with no increase to maximum liability. Outcome: approved.
- Tennessee Department of Correction — unspecified contract: Postponed to next month. Motion by the chair to delay the item after staff questions remained unanswered; committee voted to send the contract back for fuller responses. Outcome: postponed; staff directed corrections to confer with committee staff and return with complete answers.
- Health Facilities Commission — bridge contract to cover a $25 applicant fee for CNA renewals: Postponed for one month to obtain legal clarification. The agency requested use of reserves to pay the $25 applicant fee pending the completion of a rule that would allow a private contractor to charge the fee. Outcome: postponed; agency to seek attorney general review and report back to the committee.
- TennCare — Deloitte Consulting amendment (TennCare Connect eligibility system): Approved. Amendment to extend the contract 12 months and increase maximum liability by about $152,000,000; the agency said the state share is roughly $28,000,000 with the balance matched by federal funds. Outcome: approved.
- TennCare — Kepro (medical appeals/call center): Approved. Exercised first of two renewal option years with no increase in maximum liability. Outcome: approved.
- TennCare — Maximus Health Services (provider data management system): Approved. Twelve-month extension and increase in maximum liability approved. Outcome: approved.
- Department of Human Resources — Lipscomb University (Accelerated Leadership Institute) amendment: The committee amended the agency request. The department asked to extend the contract through 2029 with increased funding; the committee instead approved a one-year extension with reduced additional funding (approximately $200,000) consistent with the committee's standard three-year-then-extensions preference. Outcome: approved as amended.
- Department of Disability and Aging — Harmony Health Foundation amendment: Approved. One-year extension and $110,000 increase to maximum liability for dental services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Outcome: approved.
- Other votes: routine voice votes approving contract items and agenda motions were taken throughout the meeting; those items advanced by voice vote with outcomes recorded as approved.
The committee also approved a concept in other business to review whether vendors that have been penalized by a state agency for “significant violations” should be ineligible for new contracts or extensions in the same service for a five-year period; the committee directed staff to pull a contract for review and to report back.
