Alameda County health staff outline new vendor pool for homelessness services; supervisors press state on reporting burden

Anika Choudhary, interim director for Alameda County Health, told the Health Committee on March 23 that the agency has posted a new, ongoing procurement to replace the current Housing Solutions for Health vendor pool and to reflect changes in service needs since the pool began in 2019.

Choudhary said the vendor pool is an expedited contracting mechanism the county uses to make outreach, health and supportive services, and housing-related services available more quickly than standard procurement. "Since 2019, we have 93 approved vendors, who've been approved into the pool as of January 2026," she said, and staff have awarded more than "$299,000,000 in contracts across 10 master contracts" in recent years.

The RFQ, posted March 10, updates service categories into four areas: housing community supports (tenancy navigation and sustaining services), health and supportive services (mental health, substance use, case management and benefits enrollment), interim and permanent housing administration (surge services, move-in funds and rental subsidies) and a new prevention category that Choudhary said is intended to use Measure W investments for rental assistance, eviction prevention counseling and advocacy.

Bidders must meet minimum qualifications and demonstrate a track record serving people who are currently, formerly or at risk of experiencing homelessness. Choudhary said the RFQ requires bidders to be certified to use Alameda County's HMIS (homeless management information system) or agree to become a partnering HMIS agency prior to contracting. For the housing community supports category, bidders must show at least two of the last five years working with HMIS or an equivalent database that supports secure client data collection and reporting.

The county will accept bids every other month through Oct. 13, 2026 (the first due date is April 14; questions for that round were due March 24). After October, the procurement will move to a quarterly cadence. Choudhary said staff intend to notify Round 1 applicants by May 27 and bring a board letter with the vendor pool term and initial approved Round 1 vendors to the board at the end of June; contracts from the new pool would start July 1, 2026, with a one‑fiscal‑year overlap to allow transitions.

Supervisor Tam asked whether HMIS requirements would block regional nonprofits that use other counties' systems. Choudhary and Jonathan Russell, director of housing and homelessness, said many counties use HMIS and that vendors already operating in other counties could complete certification or partner with existing HMIS users; they noted the county will provide technical assistance for certification.

Russell and other staff also said the procurement is expected to attract new providers to the prevention category, which the county has not previously procured at scale. "Prevention is a pretty specific scope of service," Russell said; staff emphasized the county will target prevention dollars to people at imminent risk of homelessness and estimated Measure W will support roughly $12–13 million annually for that work.

During questions about state requirements, Russell described the monthly HAP reporting as time‑intensive for county staff: "It is quite burdensome," he said, estimating more than 20 staff hours per month to assemble the required HAP grant reports and noting that the monthly billing and reporting shift has pulled staff time away from performance and outcome work. Chair Supervisor Miley said she will ask county lobbyists to raise the reporting burden with Sacramento.

Staff clarified the vendor pool is primarily for services and operations, not capital acquisition. Russell said the existing vendor pool process recently supported the operational funding for 300 interim housing beds and can be used to procure operational funding for new shelter beds; property acquisition or rehabilitation would be led by other county agencies.

Choudhary said the county posted the solicitation on its OpenGov procurement portal to allow online submissions and broader outreach; more than 5,500 individuals were notified of the new opportunity through the portal and partner networks. Staff said they will follow up with supervisors on specific contract‑size questions and provide additional materials, including the PowerPoint posted with the agenda and the planned June board letter with Round 1 approvals.

No members of the public signed up to speak, and the committee adjourned with a plan to bring the vendor pool to the board for approval late in June.