Committee approves outsourcing of Birth-to-3 services, staff say it will save county funds

County finance staff presented a recommendation to contract out Birth-to-3 therapy services and the committee approved the contract. Jessica told the committee the contract is intended to be in place at the start of the new year while allowing earlier use if needed and said the next-year commitment for the contract is $336,000.

"This is the huge change that we're making to outsource the birth to 3 program," Jessica said, and staff and committee members discussed expected savings compared with an in-house model. Committee members noted the county had extended the in-house program for a year during budget development and that the procurement included an RFP and expected savings in the low hundreds of thousands; one committee member referenced savings of "at least 100,000." The committee approved the contract by voice vote; staff said the contract will allow service providers to operate across multiple counties if needed.