Under the formula, the low bidder receives full points, and other bidders get partial points, based on the size of the gap between their bids and the low bidder. St. Francis received the full 880 points. PromiseShip received 506.87 points, 58% of the possible points, because the St. Francis bid was 58% of the PromiseShip bid. The difference was enough to overcome PromiseShip’s higher scores on the other areas of the evaluation.
While the state has the right to review the reasonableness of a cost proposal, Botelho said he was not aware of any requests to do so. He also said he did not know the industry standard for child welfare services.
Smith, who has more than 30 years of experience in child welfare, would be more knowledgeable. But she had been in Nebraska for only five months at that time.
She told lawmakers that while many people believed that St. Francis had underbid the contract, she also heard from many people who said PromiseShip was being overpaid. In particular, she pointed to a 2018 state auditor’s report that questioned an estimated $26 million of state child welfare spending, including spending on PromiseShip.
But HHS also had cost comparisons developed by The Stephen Group, a New Hampshire-based consulting firm. HHS hired the firm in 2018 to assess whether Nebraska should continue contracting out case management in the Omaha area and to develop the request for proposal used to bid out the contract.
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