American Behavioral Health Systems was given a one-year contract extension Monday by Washington Department of Corrections to operate the state’s alternative drug rehabilitation program for offenders.
DOC put the contract out to bid and a decision was expected nearly a month ago, but many called into question the fairness of the selection process.
“For months we carefully considered proposals from several vendors across the state, and while I believe it was a fair bidding process, I listened to concerns from stakeholders that it was not,” said Eldon Vail, secretary of DOC. “Therefore, I decided to continue with the existing contract for another year and will request bids again next year.”
There were four bidders for the $8.5 million contract. The Spokane-based ABHS and Seattle Drug & Narcotic Treatment Center were the two in-state bids. Pioneer Recovery Center in Minnesota and Spectrum Health Systems out of Massachusetts were also vying for the contract.
“No one felt that we didn’t do the right thing,” Vail said. “But there was a strong perception that it wasn’t (fair).”
He said there were discussions to place the program in one of two state- and county-owned jail facilities in Yakima, if a company other than ABHS was awarded the contract. However, planning the logistics of how to transport a program with patients currently in Chehalis and Spokane to a new site also reinforced the need to put off the bidding process, Vail said.
“This will allow us to step back and figure out a process and figure out an orderly transition,” he said.
Craig Phillips, facility president and chief executive officer of ABHS, said he was pleased with the decision and fully expects to be awarded the contract again a year from now.
“We invested a lot in Chehalis and asked a lot of people to move here to support us, and it’d be a drag if we had to let them go,” Phillips said.
He added that keeping the program inside of a community facility, rather than a jail, was also essential to those seeking rehabilitation.
“It’d be a hard transition to have them moved to a jail,” he said, adding that many of those on site said they would not have entered the program if it meant going to a more secure facility. “A lot of these people that we treat have never been to prison, and it’d be harmful to them.”
ABHS has had a contract with the Department of Corrections since 2007 to handle the state’s Drug Offender Sentence Alternative (DOSA) program. Convicted offenders may be given the choice of completing the rigorous chemical dependency program rather than serving jail time. The drug alcohol treatment center moved into the former St. Helen Hospital in the fall of 2009.
By March of this year, the facility had admitted 682 offenders into the program since it opened, according to records from the DOC. There are currently 110 clients at the Chehalis facility, according to Phillips. He added that there are plans to increase those numbers to 145 if the company gets a new contract.
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Marqise Allen: (360) 807-8237, Twitter @marqiseallen
