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PROPOSED CONTRACT AMENDMENT
Department(s): Office of the Chief Judge, Circuit Court of Cook County
Vendor: Epperson Consulting, Flossmoor, Illinois
Request: Authorization for the Chief Procurement Officer to extend contract
Good(s) or Service(s): Evaluation Services for Adult Redeploy Illinois (ARI) Access to Community Treatment Court (ACT) and the ARI HOPE Court
Original Contract Period: 12/1/2014 - 6/30/2015 with one (1) one-year renewal option
Proposed Contract Period Extension: 7/1/2016 - 6/30/2017
Total Current Contract Amount Authority: $50,000.00
Original Approval (Board or Procurement): 11/25/2014, $35,000.00
Previous Board Increase(s) or Extension(s): N/A
Previous Chief Procurement Officer Increase(s) or Extension(s): 7/15/2015, $15,000.00, 7/1/2015-6/30/2016
This Increase Requested: N/A
Potential Fiscal Impact: N/A
Accounts: N/A
Contract Number(s): 1453-13969
Concurrences:
The contract-specific goal set on this contract was zero.
The Chief Procurement Officer concurs.
Summary: A time-only contract extension is requested for Epperson Consulting to provide independent, process and outcome evaluation services for the ACT Court and the ARI HOPE Court. No increase is requested with this extension because unexpended funds remain on the contract from a prior extension. This extension is in conjunction with a new grant received from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority for the same corresponding one year period as the contract, 7/1/2016 - 6/30/2017. Grant-funded program services under contract 1453-13969, which began in late 2014, are scheduled to expire on 6/30/2016.
Dr. Epperson’s work has been suspended for most of this year due to budget concerns, pending the new grant award. To date, Dr. Epperson has developed survey instruments, conducted interviews, reviewed court roles and functions relative to court goals and completed a logic model for the ACT court.
These evaluations will inform the court of the program’s strengths and weaknesses, enabling process improvements and laying the groundwork for more rigorous evaluations in the future.
The ACT and ARI HOPE courts are post-plea specialty courts for certain offenders. The ACT Court is a drug court probation program that operates in the Circuit Court Criminal Division. Its goal is to help certain nonviolent, felony criminal offenders suffering from substance abuse problems from becoming repeat offenders and being incarcerated. It has a current annual capacity of 170 individuals. The Circuit Court’s ARI HOPE Court is a structured probation program that operates in the Circuit Court’s Municipal District One (City of Chicago). The ARI HOPE judge and team work to give offenders the support and services they need to complete their probation sentence and move toward productive lives. It has a current annual capacity of 300 individuals.
Dr. Epperson is an expert in the evaluation of problem-solving courts and has extensive experience with systems analysis involving Circuit Court of Cook County Criminal Court operations. This is a Sole Source Procurement pursuant to Section 34-139 of the Cook County Procurement Code.
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