Finance committee approves suite of IT, software and telecom contracts and forwards FY26 budget to full board

The Hospital Authority finance committee on an evening meeting approved a series of contracts for workforce software, clinical decision support, cloud and infrastructure services and carrier connectivity and voted to forward a proposed fiscal year 2026 budget to the full board.

The committee approved two phases of a UKG implementation for payroll/timekeeping and human-resources functions, a three-year subscription to MCG clinical criteria, network and internet circuits with Comcast, AT&T and Lumen, software and licensing agreements with Dell and Microsoft, and renewals for Liquidware Labs and other IT tools. Committee members then voted to advance the FY26 budget, which staff said reflects a $6 million reduction in the Metro subsidy compared with the authority’s initial request.

The contracts are intended to consolidate multiple systems, reduce manual effort and improve clinical and administrative workflows. Diana Wofford, staff member, presented the UKG contracts, saying they replace unsupported payroll software and combine timekeeping, scheduling and HR functions into a single suite. "Before you have the UKG workforce pro timekeeping and HR system, they're 2 separate contracts, and we respectfully request that you approve these contracts," Wofford said.

K. (chair) moved and the committee approved each contract by voice vote with no recorded roll-call votes in the transcript. For the UKG work, Wofford said the combined platform will support recruitment, onboarding, scheduling, pay-for-performance, learning management and offboarding and is expected to improve data access for leaders and staff.

The committee approved a three-year agreement with MCG, a nationally recognized clinical-criteria vendor. A hospital presenter said the MCG subscription is embedded in the hospital's Cerner electronic health record and helps determine medical necessity and reduce payer denials. The presenter said the three-year cost is $28,311 with a 5% annual increase.

Adam Bertram, IT director, described the Comcast proposal as providing clinic Internet and a redundant circuit for Nashville General as part of business-continuity planning. Bertram said the hospital solicited three quotes for the data circuits and selected vendors for service and carrier diversity.

On software licensing, staff said they completed a software assessment and solicited quotes from multiple vendors; Dell was selected as the lowest-priced bidder on both the cloud services provider (CSP) and the Microsoft product-support agreement (MPSA) bids. Staff told the committee the combined licensing changes equal a $38,000 reduction compared with prior pricing after moving some licenses between contract types.

Doctor Blackledge, who identified himself as having been appointed to the CFO role earlier in the year, presented the FY26 budget slides and said the authority originally requested a $66 million Metro subsidy; the returned budget included $60 million, prompting staff to increase patient revenue assumptions and trim expense categories such as contract labor, supplies and pharmacy. "I do respectfully ask the board's approval for the budget presented," Blackledge said. The committee approved advancing the budget to the full board.

Votes at a glance

- Minutes: Accepted (motion made and seconded; voice vote) - UKG — Phase 1 (payroll/timekeeping): Approved (voice vote). Presenter: Diana Wofford; staff said the current payroll platform is no longer supported. - UKG — Phase 2 (HR suite): Approved (voice vote). Presenter: Diana Wofford; described as the HR module to integrate with Phase 1. - MCG clinical-criteria subscription (3 years): Approved (voice vote). Cost presented: $28,311 with 5% annual increase; staff said switching criteria now would require significant rework after embedding MCG in Cerner. - Comcast data circuits (clinic internet and redundant circuit): Approved (voice vote). Presenter: Adam Bertram; three quotes solicited. - Liquidware Labs (virtual desktop infrastructure analytics/monitoring): Approved (voice vote). Presenter: IT staff; three bids obtained; three-year pricing offered a year free. - Dell CSP (Microsoft cloud licensing): Approved (voice vote). Presenter: IT staff; Dell quoted lowest price. - Dell MPSA (on-premises Microsoft licensing): Approved (voice vote). Presenter: IT staff; staff explained Windows 11 licenses moved between contract types but combined pricing is reduced. - Microsoft enterprise support (3 years): Approved (voice vote). Presenter: IT staff; described as broad support for Microsoft products. - AT&T (site interconnectivity): Approved (voice vote). Presenter: IT staff; selected for price and diversity among carriers. - Lumen (hospital internet renewal): Approved (voice vote). Presenter: IT staff; renewal for existing service. - FY26 budget: Approved to be forwarded to the full board (voice vote). Presenter: Doctor Blackledge.

What the committee said about vendor selection and procurement

Committee members asked about formal RFP thresholds and why some items were not run through a formal RFP; Christy Lewis, staff member, said a quick-reference guide was created to clarify how to complete contract information sheets and asked presenters to include quotes and vendor comparisons when no formal RFP is used. Staff repeatedly reported that three quotes were gathered for the data-circuit and licensing procurements even when no formal RFP was issued.

Next steps and context

Most approvals were by voice vote during the finance committee meeting; the budget will return at the full board for final action. Staff said they will provide a written summary showing which contracts were anticipated in the FY26 budget and which are outside it. Several presenters described the changes as part of multi-year efforts to consolidate systems, contain costs and make administrative processes more efficient.

Ending

The committee then heard a KPMG presentation on accounting and financial-reporting improvements (separately reported) and welcomed a newly introduced finance hire. The committee adjourned to prepare for the full board session.