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Department seeks dedicated procurement team for anticipated Medicaid managed-care contracting
Summary
Department of Administration leaders told JFAC they want three procurement staff and ongoing contract-management capacity to support a large Medicaid managed-care solicitation and follow-on contract oversight; the MMIS implementation remains delayed by litigation.
During the budget hearing, Director Steve Bailey described a near-term need for dedicated procurement staff to handle complex Medicaid contracting and ongoing contract management.
Bailey said the department requests three dedicated positions and about $390,100 from dedicated funds to manage Medicaid procurement and contract oversight, including a bureau chief and two senior management analysts. "Those personnel will be assigned 100% to Medicaid," Bailey said, explaining that the work involves complex solicitations and ongoing contract management subject to both state and federal requirements.
Committee members pressed for why the Department of Administration is leading procurement instead of Medicaid’s Health and Welfare staff. Bailey said DOP (the department’s purchasing division) runs procurement processes while Medicaid provides programmatic expertise and terms; "we make the sausage and Medicaid and Deloitte are going to provide the ingredients," he said.
Bailey warned the committee the forthcoming managed-care organization (MCO) solicitation could be the largest in Idaho history. He estimated the solicitation could "potentially surpass $1,000,000,000" and said about 33,000 Idahoans are in the program now, making careful procurement and contract management essential to avoid implementation problems. He said the Attorney General’s office has agreed to assign a dedicated deputy attorney general to assist the procurement team.
Members also asked how long the new staff would be needed; Bailey said the roles include both procurement and ongoing contract management after award and are intended to carry the work through solicitation and implementation. He said the department is coordinating closely with Medicaid and with Deloitte, which has provided implementation guidance and is helping design the procurement process.
Committee members further queried how MMIS (the Medicaid Management Information System) timing affects MCO implementation. Bailey said MMIS implementation is currently on hold because a vendor challenge resulted in a court-ordered stay issued in October, and that delay will affect the schedule for MCO rollout and implementation sequencing.
