Joseph W. Sedtal, Deputy Secretary for Administration, Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. File photo by Bryan P. Sears.
The Board of Public Works unanimously approved a $724 million contract for pretrial detention medical and mental health services Wednesday, despite objections from a troubled incumbent.
The three-member board’s vote approves the contract with Centurion of Maryland despite an ongoing set of appeals filed by private equity-backed YesCare, which currently services the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. An attorney representing YesCare asked the board to postpone the vote, citing its policy of not evaluating contracts that face protests.
Wednesday effectively cut ties with an embattled contractor. It also placed the board in the difficult position of having to decide the fate of a contract while the losing bidder appeals to the Maryland State Contract Appeals Board.
“Agencies should not turn to the Board of Public Works to resolve protests unless circumstances are extenuating,” said Comptroller Brooke Lierman, who voted with Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller and Treasurer Dereck Davis for the Centurion contract. “Furthermore, providers should not file frivolous appeals in hopes of putting the state in a position where we have limited influence.”
It is important that both sides “respect, not the railroad, our administrative and judicial processes,” Lierman said.
“However, we will not allow the state to be taken advantage of and Marylanders to suffer when providers file frivolous appeals,” she said.
The contract with Centurion of Maryland LLC includes a base term of five years and a single two-year renewal option for a total cost of about $724 million, about $144 million more than YesCare’s offer. .
YesCare filed two protests with the corrections department that were denied. The company appealed these denials to the Maryland State Contract Appeals Board. Hearings on both appeals are pending.
“The only question before this board is whether or not it will follow its own rule – there is a long-standing rule – in COMAR [state regulations] this says that when there are timely appeals pending, from a protest before the Contract Appeals Board, and there are such timely appeals here, the board will not award the contract,” said Philip Andrews, an attorney representing YesCare. “Doing this is an exception. These exceptions should be rare. That doesn’t happen often.”
Andrews said the corrections department did not prove to the board that the state had a substantial interest in awarding the contract before the appeal was resolved.
But Joseph W. Sedtal, deputy secretary for administration at the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, urged the board to approve the contract despite contractual appeals, citing the agency’s “immediate needs.”
“We recognize the board’s concerns about an award in the face of a protest,” Sedtal said. “The department would not take this action and present this to you now if we did not believe that an award without delay protects the State’s substantial interest in providing mental health and medical care to the population under its protection to the best of its ability.”
Sedtal acknowledged that Centurion’s offer was superior to YesCare’s, but defended the new contract as the “best value for the state and the taxpayer.”
“Having a low bid does not automatically guarantee a successful proposal,” he said.
Wednesday’s vote is the latest in a series from the Board of Public Works as corrections seeks to address concerns about medical and mental health care at its facilities.
YesCare was responsible for services for those awaiting trial as well as inmates in the state prison system.
Maryland officials, like those in other states, have complained about the quality of care provided by YesCare, which won the original contract six years ago under the name Corizon. That company later spun off YesCare as it attempted to restructure itself during the ongoing bankruptcy process.
YesCare has drawn criticism in Maryland for the way it provides services, as well as for failing to pay bills from local hospital systems and a western Maryland volunteer fire company. There are also ongoing concerns about inadequate staffing at YesCare.
In March, the Board of Public Works approved a $125 million, nine-month extension with YesCare as the department solicited new bids for contracts separating health services for inmates and their trial population.
The contract awarded Wednesday to Centurion comes on top of a $1.7 billion contract the company received to handle health care for the state’s prison system. YesCare also maintained this contract and also appealed the ruling.
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