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Discrepancy between language access contract values and actual spending

2:16:06

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Council Member Alexa Avilés expresses concern about the underspending on language access contracts, particularly in healthcare settings, despite known service gaps. Kenneth Lo from MOIA explains the complexities of contract procurement and demand for language services.

Significant underspending noted on some Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) contracts
Discrepancy between contract values and actual spending, despite increased demand for language services
Explanation of procurement processes and the need for agencies to secure larger contracts for future use
Acknowledgment of the need for more information and examination of the nexus between contract values and spending

Alexa Avilés

2:16:06

Yeah.

2:16:07

I I was surprised to see the amount of under spending of some of the DOH MH contracts in in terms of the the the variety of them.

2:16:19

It was just a surprising We know there is a need, and we consistently hear particularly in in in medical settings and in, you know, health care broadly.

2:16:31

The lack of and to see, like, you know, a a $1,000,000 contract with only $200,000 of spending, and we hear on a daily basis, there are still service gaps.

2:16:42

I I I didn't had what do you what do you make of that?

Kenneth Lo

2:16:48

It takes the question.

2:16:50

I I think, you know, there's the procurement side and there's the demand side and just having expense procuring yields You wanna make sure that you have the agency wants to make sure it has the capacity, and we'll go for a larger contract.

2:17:10

The actual demand may like, the it's not it's basically sort of a blanket.

2:17:17

So for future use and preferences to have a longer contract, so you don't have to go through the procurement cycle.

Alexa Avilés

2:17:24

Yeah.

2:17:24

Yeah.

2:17:25

But we have I mean, obviously, the contracts are peculiar.

Kenneth Lo

2:17:28

Mhmm.

Alexa Avilés

2:17:28

They have a value set proposition, and what they're showing is on the last fiscal year, only expanding a very small amount of of the value of the contract.

2:17:40

And yet we all know.

2:17:42

I think we can agree that demand the volume has increased significantly across all languages, and we hear certainly anecdotally from partners, from residents, from our own individual experiences that there's still a lot of gaps.

2:17:58

So I'm trying to make sense of why these services are not being utilized fully.

2:18:05

Right?

2:18:05

I would expect that delta to be much smaller across contracts.

2:18:10

With particular agencies where, you know, there's a lot of interface.

2:18:15

So that was just a surprising thing that I noted.

2:18:18

I'm just curious, like, how how you make a determination around what you're seeing there.

Kenneth Lo

2:18:26

I think that is one area that as we engage more with the expenditure side and with the monitoring side that we can have more information on how to examine that, the nexus.

2:18:44

At the moment, I I do not have a a good answer on on that particular piece because if not, that's a class.

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