Hi, Get Healthy Partners:

Many of you have interacted with me as the Contract Coordinator of Health Policy and Planning. I coordinate the contract development and amendment process with departments, program managers, and other County departments. As we select the next cohort of 2018 GHSMC Community Implementation recipients, I wanted to take this opportunity to share the basics of the contract process to clarify some of the questions we often receive during the application and contracting process.

There are 5 phases in the contract process:

1. Contract Requisition: This is the first internal step we take to ensure that the funding is available to start the solicitation process.
2. Solicitation & Selection: Most of you are familiar with this process because of our annual Community Implementation Funding program. We release a Request for Proposal and assemble a group of internal and external reviewers to help with the selection of the final awardees. Once I receive the final list of awardees, I begin the next phase.
3. Contract Negotiating: This part of the contract process is usually handled by our Community Planners. They closely work with our community partners who are selected by our review committee to be awarded the GHSMC Community Implementation Funding. Planners and awardees finalize work plans, deliverables, and budgets. In this phase, I will be asking all contractors for a Certificate of Insurance.
4. Contract Review: Once the deliverables and budget have been negotiated between parties, an internal review process by our program manager, finance manager, and director will take place.  At times, at any point from Solicitation, Negotiation and Review, if necessary, our County Legal Counsel and Risk Management will be involved in the process, which may lengthen the timeframe.
5. Contract Signing: This is the exciting part of the process. The parties add their signatures to the final contract and start the work. We will then monitor and track performance and budget of projects throughout the duration of the contract.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions specific to contracts.

As a resident of San Mateo County, I am so proud to be part of an effort to improve the opportunities of our most vulnerable neighbors so they get to enjoy a healthy life. I’m also so fortunate to be able to shepherd our Community Partners through the governmental contract process so they can do the work of improving the well-being of our communities. 

I look forward to working with the 2018 GHSMC Community Implementation awardees.