Related Articles
-Editorial
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors approved an agreement with Clinicas De Salud Del Pueblo to permit the Clinicas to procure equipment under the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Clinicas De Salud requested the assistance of the County of Imperial to act as co-applicant for a grant with the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA) to purchase new equipment for the El Centro Ambulatory Care Center. The total grant amount was for $1,583,289 with $1,266,631 being a grant award from the EDA and $361,658 contributed by the Clinicas as a required cash match. Upon grant award, the county was identified as the lead co-applicant of the grant.
On September 19, 2017, a Memorandum of Understanding was entered between the County of Imperial and Clinicas to outline the agreement regarding a grant application to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration. The intention of this agreement was to state the responsibilities of the agencies and the purchase of medical equipment for a new facility located in El Centro, California. The original agreement between the county and Clinicas de Salud was sent to EDA to clear Special Award Conditions; however, EDA requested that additional language be incorporated to specify certain obligations from each of the aforementioned parties. Such obligations include receiving and distributing grant funds, filing EDA project and financial reports, and executing security agreements related to the equipment purchased under the grant.
Pacific Medical Buildings was a developer that built a 70,000 square foot state of the art medical facility in El Centro. The equipment will assist in the expansion of its current training program by adding dental, ophthalmology, pharmacy and expanding their medical, x-ray and administration operations. Clinicas will also be operating on the job training program for new graduates in the medical field that can be placed in full-time positions in Imperial County.
Clinicas Del Pueblo anticipated the creation of 150 new jobs in the next five years. Clinicas will also conduct a training program with various partners that will place individuals at Clinicas for on the job training. Upon completion of the training program, the trainees will be placed in jobs at Clinicas or at other Imperial Valley health care facilities.
To date, all items from the original scope of work have been purchased. However, a mammography machine that was originally included in the scope of work was found to be more beneficial for Clinicas to secure apart from this grant. As a result, additional funds were made available to procure more equipment. A few additional items were requested from EDA to be approved for purchase and were granted, with the exception of a transportation van for patients that were recently deemed ineligible by EDA. Thus, additional funds continue to be available for this project.
The County has been procuring the scope of work since the county is the lead agency and responsible for safeguarding the awarded funds. The Clinicas has requested to conduct the procurement process in their offices for additional items going forward. Upon receiving guidance from EDA it was recommended the county review and monitors these transactions as any findings and ineligible cost would need to be resolved by the county. The agreement with Clinicas de Salud Del Pueblo is to ensure federal procurement procedures are followed and the county continues to review the process.
