Glynn County Finance Department
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GLYNN COUNTY MANAGER’S OFFICE 1725 Reynolds Street, Third Floor, Brunswick, GA 31520 Phone: (912) 554-7401 Fax: (912) 554-7596 Email: [email protected] MEMORANDUM To: The Honorable Commissioners From: Alan Ours, County Manager Subject: Request for Proposals for the Provision of Emergency Medical Services Date: November 3, 2015 Background: During the 2015/2016 budget work sessions, the Board of Commissioners directed county staff to research the possibility of contracting with a private company to provide emergency medical services to determine if a private company could provide the service at a lower cost. To that end, staff has researched how a private contract would work and the potential impact to county services. There are a few private companies that provide 911 EMS service on behalf of counties in Georgia. The companies that contract for EMS service claim that they can provide the service more efficiently and at a lower cost. Many counties in Georgia have a stand-alone EMS Department and a stand-alone Fire Department. Glynn County has a combined Fire and EMS Department. The privatization of EMS is less complicated when a county has a stand-alone EMS System. Glynn County’s Paramedic’s and EMT’s are also certified firefighters and respond to all structure fires. Glynn County typically responds with a fire engine with two firefighters and an ambulance with a Paramedic and an EMT to all structure fires in order to meet the National Fire Protection Administrations (NFPA) recommendation of having four firefighters on the scene of a structure fire. This is referred to as the “two in and two out” rule. If the County contracted for EMS Services, a fire engine would need to wait for other engine companies to respond to a structure fire before it would be recommended that they enter into a building according to NFPA standards. Doing so would add to the overall response time and increase the amount of property damage. Adding two firefighters per station per shift in order to fill the gap would cost approximately $2.2 million and the special fire millage would need to be increased by .59 mils. The FY 16 budget for EMS is $3,458,864 and the projected revenue is $1,900,000. The difference between revenue and expenses is $1,558,864. If an RFP was sent out, the responding companies could provide an amount for a subsidy from Glynn County. One company has told me that they believe they could save the County $500,000 to $800,000 in operating costs, and another interested company provides EMS service to Paulding County with no subsidy. In addition, the County would save approximately $450,000 per year in capital costs by not purchasing a new ambulance. Unless an RFP is issued, it would be difficult to determine the actual savings by contracting out the service. The Main Issues There are four main issues with contracting out EMS, which are as follows: Personnel Currently, 52 positions are assigned to EMS. The EMS team consists of individuals that have different amounts of years of service with Glynn County and who are at different points within the pay scale. If EMS is contracted out, it will be important for the successful company to offer our current employees positions at a wage equal to or higher than their current pay. In addition, benefits that are offered will be an important consideration. The men and women who currently work for EMS have invested many years serving Glynn County and it is important that they are not hurt financially by contracting out the service. ISO Rating A survey of local insurance companies was performed to analyze how an increased ISO rating would affect home owners. All insurance companies, except State Farm, still use ISO ratings to help determine insurance rates. Of the companies surveyed, they indicated that rates would increase if the ISO rating increased, but since rates are property specific we could not get actual numbers. If our response to a structure fire changed from four firefighters to two firefighters, the ISO rating would most likely increase from the current 3 rating to a higher rating. Structure Fires In 2014, Glynn County responded to 1863 fire calls, of which 103 were actual structure fires. The majority of the calls that a fire engine responds to are medical related and vehicle accidents. In 2014, EMS responded to 11,798 calls for service, of which 7,136 resulted in transports to the hospital. If Glynn County responded to a structure fire with only one engine and two firefighters, it would be difficult to start an interior attack until another engine arrived on the scene. Studies have proven that it takes three to five minutes for a fire to go from ignition to fully involved. An interior attack that can be made quickly will reduce the amount of property damage. Coordinated Effort Within the private EMS, the response, treatment, and transportation of the patient and patient care are not seamless. The continuity of patient care is decreased when that care is passed off at the treatment and transportation point to a private entity. Within the private EMS system there is lack of a multi- faceted, “all hazards” approach to the response. In a multi-agency response, there could be a conflict in the incident command structure. Conclusion From my research, it appears that Glynn County could save a substantial amount of money by contracting out EMS. However, since the County offers a coordinated approach to emergency responses, contracting out EMS does not appear to be the best service delivery of emergency services. The County’s current “All Hazards Approach” has worked well and should continue to be utilized. By contracting out EMS, County taxpayers would be directly impacted by the lack of continuity of care in the EMS response, higher insurance rates due to the likely increase in the ISO rating, and possible increases to the special fire millage rate. If the Board of Commissioners chooses to not contract out EMS, efforts should be made to increase the collection rate and to make the service more efficient. Alternatives: 1) Request proposals from interested companies to provide EMS 2) Do not send out requests for proposals to provide EMS Recommendation: Staff recommends alternative number 2 Recommended Motion for the Finance Committee: I make a motion to not send out a request for proposals for the provision of EMS by a private company Recommended Motion for the Board of Commissioners: I make a motion to not send out a request for proposals for the provision of EMS by a private company Alternative Motion for the Finance Committee: I make a motion to send out a request for proposals for the provision of EMS by a private company Alternative Motion for the Board of Commissioners: I make a motion to send out a request for proposals for the provision of EMS by a private company Attachments Draft RFP Results of ISO Survey Report entitled Prehospital 9-1-1 Emergency Medical Response Report entitled Privatization and Prehospital Emergency Medical Services Power Point entitled Fire Service Based EMS GLYNN COUNTY GEORGIA EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL RFP #00964 1 | Page REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES RFP #00964 TABLE OF CONTENTS PROPOSAL DOCUMENTS Invitation to Proposers………………………………………………………………………..…………….Page 3 Instructions to Proposers……….………………………………………………………………………….Page 5 Request for Local Preference……………………………………………………………………..……….Page 8 General Terms and Conditions……………………………………………………………………………Page 9 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 16 Program Services……………………………………………………………………………………………Page 19 Cost Proposal…………………………………………………………………………………………………Page 22 Oath………………..……………………………………………………………………………………………Page 26 Proposal Requirements….………………………………………………………………………………....Page 27 Representation……………………………………………………………………………………………….Page 31 Georgia Security & Immigration Information…………………….……………………………………..Page 32 Equal Employment Opportunity…………………………………………………………………………..Page 36 Legal and Character Qualifications……………………………………………………………………....Page 37 Proposal Bond………………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 39 Contract Agreement…………………………………………………………………………......................Page 41 2 | Page Glynn County Board of Commissioners Purchasing Department 1725 Reynolds St., 3rd Floor Brunswick, GA 31520 Phone (912) 554- 7135; Fax: (888) 272-5563 E-mail: [email protected] EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES – RFP #00964 INVITATION The Glynn County Board of Commissionsers is interested in seeking proposals from interested qualified entites to provide Emergency Medical Services for Glynn County, GA. There will be a non-mandatory Pre-proposal Conference at 1:30 p.m. on, June 3, 2014 at the Public Works Training Room, 4145 Norwich Street Ext., Brunswick, Ga. 31520. Any questions and /or misunderstandings that may arise from this invitation shall be submitted, in writing and forwarded, to the Purchasing Agent at [email protected] no later than June 9, 2014. All Questions and Answers submitted will be posted to the website no later than June 12, 2014. Answers to questions submitted that materially change the conditions and specifications of this invitation for Proposal will be promulgated to all addressees as an addendum. Any discussions or documents will be considered non-binding unless incorporated and promulgated in an addendum. It shall be the Proposers responsibility to seek clarification as early as possible prior to the opening of proposals. The County will receive sealed technical and cost proposals at the following address: Glynn County Board of Commissioners Purchasing Department W. Harold Pate Building 1725 Reynolds St., 3rd Floor Brunswick, Georgia 31520 Proposals will be received until June 24 , 2014 at 2:00 p.m. Hand-delivered proposals will be received up to 1:55 p.m. on the day of the opening. Proposals will be publicly opened and only the name(s) of those Proposers responding will be mentioned. No proposal may be modified in any way after the deadline for proposal openings. These instructions are an integral part of any proposal. The Proposers' response shall include the required number of technical proposals and one fee proposal with all other information requested in this Request for Proposal (RFP).