Internal memos among top officials show that the Agency of Human Services discussed this month whether to use Speridian Technologies to build the first phase of the new integrated eligibility system.
Speridian is being considered as the contractor to develop a system that would help Vermonters determine instantly whether they are eligible for six different state health care programs. The system would take 18 months to execute and would be expanded over time to include programs such as Reach Up and food stamps.
Stephanie Beck, who oversees the Health Services Enterprise Platform for the Agency of Human Services, told Human Services Secretary Hal Cohen in an internal memo that the decision was already made and she would send him “talking points” so he can explain the decision to others.
The talking points say the Agency of Human Services wants to offer a no-bid a contract with Speridian. The company helped the state of Hawaii abandon its state health exchange and use underlying technology from a company called Oracle to set up an integrated eligibility system.
The Agency of Human Services said on March 15 it wanted to follow an example set by Hawaii and use underlying technology on Vermont Health Connect made by a company called Oracle to build out the integrated eligibility system. Speridian has a partnership with Oracle, according to its website.
The following people did not respond to inquiries from VTDigger placed Monday: Stephanie Beck; Hal Cohen, the secretary of the Agency of Human Services; Dixie Henry, the deputy secretary of the Agency of Human Services; Sarah Clark, the chief financial officer for the Agency of Human Services; and John Stern, the deputy chief information officer at the Agency of Human Services.
Cohen’s assistant, Dean Mudgett, said in an email: “Consistent with the Public Records Act, it is the standard practice of the Agency to not discuss contract negotiations, including whether a contract negotiation is underway. Once executed, contracts are publicly available.”
Justin Johnson, the secretary of the Agency of Administration, said Monday that any decision to bypass the normal bidding process has to come through him, and he has not signed off on anything. “As far as I’m concerned, there is no decision to do a sole-source contract with anybody,” Johnson said.
The internal communications say that Speridian helped Hawaii stop using software code called OneGate from the now-defunct company Exeter Group. Vermont Health Connect relies on the same software and has ongoing functionality problems.
“They began their system with Oracle and Onegate products and encountered similar functional issues with Onegate as Vermont is experiencing,” Beck writes in the talking points memo.
“Although Hawaii also determined to move to the federal exchange for (Affordable Care Act insurance plans), the Hawaii components will be compatible with Vermont’s system, including maintaining the current VT exchange,” the memo says.
Speridian is “a proven vendor,” and the contract would allow the state to improve the Vermont Health Connect functionality “more quickly.”
The talking points memo says officials have consulted with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “CMS indicated that sole sourcing with a proven vendor most similar to VT was the direction they endorsed.”
Speridian would bring the state into compliance faster with CMS requirements “for replacing the ACCESS system, assuring Vermont’s eligibility for a 75/25 match for ongoing operations support.” (ACCESS is a 1980s mainframe computer system used for tracking participation in human services programs.)
In a second set of talking points for Cohen, Beck writes, “Because of the initial nature of the (integrated eligibility) work … I plan to appoint John Stern as AHS lead for the IE project.”
Leaders of the Department for Children and Families “will be an integral part of the team.” The talking points for Cohen say he would “act as the sponsor.”