From
Lisa Norris, Human Resources Director
Title
Price agreement with Occu-Med to conduct pre-employment and annual physical testing services for the Fire Department for a 3-year contract effective November 1, 2015 to October 31, 2018, with two annual renewal options for years 2019 and 2020, in an estimated annual amount up to $47,000 per year for years one through three, $48,000 for year four, and $49,000 for year five, for a total contract value up to $238,000 over 5 years. This agreement provides guaranteed pricing for each test performed over per year. The City Manager may execute the renewal options with aggregate price fluctuations of the lesser of up to $50,000 or 25% of the original maximum price so long as sufficient funding is appropriated by the City Council in the annual budget to satisfy the City’s obligation during the renewal terms.
Presenter
Lisa Norris, Human Resources Director
Recommended Action
Approve
Analysis
Typically, the Fire department newhire physicals were performed through the city-wide occupational health provider, and annual physicals were not performed by the department, but could be done at the employee's leisure through their own doctor under the medical plan. This year, the Fire Chief met with Human Resources and the City Manager's Office to propose implementation of a multi-year plan to conduct annual physicals (beyond pre-employment) for all sworn Fire personnel in accordance with certain testing recommended by the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA). Such testing standards are common in many Fire departments and are nationally accepted. Chief Fite proposed staggering this new annual physical testing over three-year periods, essentially testing 1/3 of their sworn population each year, to have everyone tested over the three-year period. The hope is that this required testing will result in early detection of any health issues so that Fire personnel may have the opportunity to work with their own physician to reduce risk long-term and improve the chance of early detection and treatment as needed and extend life and health. Newhire testing will remain consistent with what is done today and includes a few other tests that are not needed annually. Newhires will have to go to the testing site and are not conducted on city sites since they are hired sporadically during the year as vacancies occur. The attachment reflects which tests and how many are performed for newhires versus the annual tests.
A bid was issued via Bid Notice #15149 for Fire Department pre-employment and annual testing services and was viewed by numerous vendors, with four vendors considered as seen on the attachment "Firefighter Occupational Health Vendor Comparison." These bids were evaluated based upon "best value" criteria as listed in the specification, including service, experience in providing listed services, availability and quality of staff, facility and locations, references and fees/renewals/guarantees as noted in the "Evaluation Score" attachment. While Concentra provided a lower cost over the five year period, Occu-Med offered numerous "valued added" components that resulted in them having the best value. These services include the availability to come onsite to conduct multi-day and consecutive day testing for the annual testing piece which reduces overtime, adds location convenience, prevents Fire personnel from having to take staff and equipment out of service to go to the testing facilities, and simply adds tremedous efficiency in operations by having the testing on City of Grand Prairie facilities over consecutive three days to cover all shifts and personnel on duty those days. Additionally, they provide extensive cumulative reporting and ensure NFPA compliance in their testing that no one else provides. Finally, they assist in reasonable accomodation considerations, consultation on pre-placement, return-to-work, and fitness-for-duty assessments and other valuable services to ensure efficiency for the applicant and the city in the review process. As a result, Occu-Med was selected as the "best value" provider for services quoted.
The Finance and Government Committee was briefed at the November 3rd meeting on this item and supports the services and vendor selection noted.
Financial Consideration
For purposes of calculating an annualized cost per test, we estimated 10 newhires per year and 78 sworn fire personnel per year (1/3 of force). Since this testing is new, initially $30,000 was added to Human Resources general fund (211010-61480) for this cost. The amount actually spent could be less and will be watched closely against the allocated budget. Similar to how we manage our other funds, such as the Risk Fund, the city will only spend up to the appropriated amount of $30,000 this fiscal year. Should additional funding be needed as we progress through the fiscal year and determine actual expenses, we will coordinate with Budget, Fire and the City Manager's Office, to consider amending the modified budget through appropirate processes such as contingency transfer, or moving money within our fund from available sources as available and appropriate. Additionally, since this is a multi-year contract, we will watch this annually during the budget process and appropriate additional funding in future year's to properly fund the projected costs.