To: Board of Supervisors
From: Dr. Grant Colfax, Health Services Director
Report Title: Contract #74-594-3 with Objective Arts, Inc.
Recommendation: Recommendation of the County Administrator
RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Health Services Director, or designee, to execute on behalf of the County an Order Form (Contract #74-594-3) with Objective Arts, Inc., a corporation, in an amount not to exceed $99,000, to provide outcome assessment software and services required to utilize Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths and Pediatric Symptoms Checklist assessments for client-level reporting to the State of California on a quarterly basis for the period June 30, 2026 through June 29, 2027, and clarify a successive one (1) year period contract term thereafter until terminated pursuant to its terms.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Approval of this Order Form will result in contractual service expenditures of up to $99,000 over a 1-year period and will be funded 100% by County Realignment Funds.
BACKGROUND:
This Contract meets the County's needs by providing hosted a web-based software solution that government, charitable, and other organizations use to automate and administer assessments, outcomes, and analysis for behavioral health and related programs through, among other services, its web-based Behavioral Health Analytics Platform. In California, Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) and Pediatric Symptoms Checklist (PSC-35) assessments are standardized functional assessment tools required by the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) for Performance Outcomes System (POS) reporting, service planning, and quality monitoring for youth in behavioral health and child welfare systems. CANS is a structured, collaborative assessment that identifies a youth’s and family’s actionable needs and strengths. It guides care planning, supports decision-making, and monitors outcomes. The California CANS Core Item set provides POS reporting. PSC-35 is a parent-completed psychosocial screening tool for children ages 3-18 to detect cognitive, emotional, and behavioral problems early, enabling timely intervention.
DHCS formally selected CANS and PSC-35 as statewide outcome tools in 2017; statewide implementation rolled out on October 1, 2018, requiring CANS and PSC-35 assessments for client-level reporting to the State of California. To collect and analyze data from Community-Based Organizations and Contractors, the County licenses this web-based Behavioral Health Analytics Platform to meet data management and reporting requirements.
This Contract is entered into as per DHCS Behavioral Health Information Notice 17-052, supports the DHCS regulatory mandate (BHIN 17-052) to capture, analyze, and create reports on the CANS tool and PSC-35, and approved by Health Services Personnel to ensure there is no conflict with labor relations. A summary of service contract deliverables, including measurable outcomes required of the Contractor to be monitored by the department in compliance with Section III (B)(6) of the Purchasing Policy (AB 600.4) includes County’s access and permitted use of the licensed content. This Contractor was approved by the Public Works Department’s Purchasing Department on September 15, 2025.
On July 9, 2019, the Board of Supervisors approved, Software License Agreement (which included an evergreen term), County Contract #74-594, with Objective Arts, Inc, in an amount not to exceed $90,000 to provide outcome assessment software and services to utilize the CANS and PSC-35 assessments for client-level reporting to the State of California on a quarterly basis for the period July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020. Since then, the County Purchasing Agent has issued purchase orders (totaling $549,000) for the renewal of services through June 29, 2026.
Under this Contract #74-594-3, the parties will execute an Order Form to allow Contractor to continue to provide its hosted data system, reporting capacity, training and technical support to the County, through June 29, 2027, and clarify the contract term renews for successive one (1) year period thereafter until terminated pursuant to its terms. The Software License Agreement obligates the County to indemnify Objective Arts, Inc., against losses arising from County’s misuse of the software. The division is requesting retroactive approval for this action due to delays caused by process.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If this Order Form is not approved, County will be forced to revert to manual collection and reporting of DHCS regulatory mandate (BHIN 17-052) to capture, analyze, and create reports utilizing the CANS tool and the PSC-35 assessments, which may cause challenges and ultimately negatively impact patient outcomes.