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San Luis trustees approve recommendation to negotiate contracts with 90 Degrees and Mexico network administrator
Summary
After an HR presentation on vendor performance and a competitive RFP, the San Luis Employee Benefit Trust voted to direct staff to negotiate contracts with 90 Degrees as the city's third-party administrator and Sarmed as the Mexico provider network administrator; trustees praised staff and had no substantive questions.
Human Resources Manager Maria Barahas told trustees that the city launched a market review and request-for-proposals process after persistent service problems with the current administrator, Personify, led to delays in claims processing and payments that affected members and HR operations. Following presentations and a formal evaluation, HR recommended selecting 90 Degrees as the third-party administrator and continuing (for Mexico network services) with CRM, and the board voted to direct staff to negotiate contracts with 90 Degrees and Sarmed.
Barahas said the city began the market review in May 2025, arranged vendor presentations in October and issued the RFP in December 2025 with a January deadline. The evaluation committee—staff from administration, finance and human resources—scored seven total responses (four for the U.S. TPA and three for the Mexico network). "Our recommendation is to select 90 degrees as our third party administrator due to their experience with the public sector," Barahas said, summarizing the committee's findings.
The HR presentation listed implementation and member-protection details the committee considered: Barahas reported an analysis showing roughly a 94% match between the city's current provider list and the proposed 90 Degrees network (about 6% of providers would be affected) and said the city planned targeted communications during open enrollment and assistance identifying alternative providers for impacted members. Barahas said 90 Degrees offers a 90-day implementation window, will assign an account executive within one business day, and offered a $15,000 implementation credit if the city enters a three-year agreement. She also described bilingual materials, a mobile app for members, continuity-of-care procedures and audit/compliance practices for high-dollar claims.
Barahas told trustees that CRM (the recommended Mexico network administrator) has provided services to the city for more than 17 years and that final administrative fees will be detailed in the contract HR brings back for board approval. She said it was contractually prudent to complete the city's existing agreement with Personify, which runs through June 30, before switching administrators.
Board members praised the staff's process and said they had no substantive questions. After brief comments, a trustee moved to approve the HR recommendation and to direct staff to negotiate contracts with 90 Degrees Benefits and Sarmed; following a second, the board voted in favor with no recorded nays and the motion carried. The board will consider the final contracts and fee schedules when staff returns with negotiated agreements.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:44 p.m.
