title
PROPOSED CONTRACT
Department(s): Office of the Chief Judge, Circuit Court of Cook County
Vendor: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Request: Authorization for the Chief Procurement Officer to enter into and execute
Good(s) or Service(s): Enterprise-wide mental health services for minors
Contract Value: $4,652,473.00
Contract period: 12/1/2017-11/30/2018
Potential Fiscal Year Budget Impact: FY 2018: $4,652,473.00
Accounts: Juvenile Probation, 326-260; Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, 440-272
Contract Number(s): 1753-16842
Concurrences:
The contract-specific goal set on this contract was zero.
The Chief Procurement Officer concurs.
Summary: The Office of the Chief Judge, Circuit Court of Cook County (OCJ) requests a new, one-year contract with Northwestern University to clinically staff and manage mental health services for court-involved youth in Cook County. The contract is designed to avoid a lapse in mental health services during the interim period that a Request for Proposals (RFP) for fully integrated mental health services is completed and a new vendor is selected. The interim contract would replace the two separate, current contracts with (1) The Isaac Ray Center, Inc., which expires 11/30/2017; and, (2) Northwestern University, which expires 12/31/2017. The Isaac Ray Center provides clinical mental health services at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) under contract number 10-41-68; and Northwestern University currently manages the Cook County Juvenile Court Clinic under contract 10-41-14.
In the spring of 2015, as part of the transition process from federal oversight of the JTDC, Chief Judge Timothy Evans appointed The Circuit Court of Cook County Committee on the Transition of the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (“The Committee”). The Committee included expert-led subcommittees that were designed to make recommendations for system improvements concerning youth-serving departments. The Committee concluded, “Positive outcomes and future opportunities for youth” should not only be the operational focus for the JTDC, but should also be the focus of all youth-serving departments. In addition, the Health/Mental Health Care sub-committee recommended that the Chief Judge commission a study of the feasibility of consolidating the mental health services currently offered by the JTDC, the Juvenile Probation and Court Services Department (Probation), and the Juvenile Court Clinic.
In response, Chief Judge Evans asked the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago (Chapin Hall) to conduct an independent review of relevant mental health screening, assessment, referral, and service delivery practices, and make recommendations to help achieve an integrated system of mental health for youth involved with the Juvenile Justice Division of the Cook County Circuit Court. Specific deliverables included recommendations for addressing problem areas based on a comprehensive review of how current mental health screening, assessment, referral processes and relevant clinical interventions function in comparison to evidence from existing literature about best practices. As a result of the Chapin Hall review, the OCJ has been working to develop a RFP that establishes and implements fully integrated mental health services across the court services continuum. This contract would provide time required to complete the procurement process.
This is a sole source contract pursuant to Section 34-139 of the Cook County Procurement Code. end