Office handling subsidized child care could be moving to Westmoreland County

The state has realigned the region for an office that deals with subsidized child care for low-income families, but Washington County officials are unhappy about the process that's bringing about the change.

Known as Child Care Information Services, the office in the county's Courthouse Square building has, since 2013, covered programs and families in Washington and Beaver counties with a satellite office in the Beaver County seat. Washington County had been running its own program for many years.

Washington County's combining of its child-care service office with its northern neighbor occurred under a directive from then-Gov. Tom Corbett to reduce Department of Public Welfare expenses.

Under Gov. Tom Wolf, the Department of Public Welfare became the Department of Human Services, and a new region for CCIS covering Washington, Greene, Westmoreland and Fayette counties was created, known as "Early Learning Resource Centers No. 4."

Each county or a nonprofit organization within the county had the opportunity to respond to the state's request for proposals.

Scott Fergus, director of administration for Washington County, said Washington County received a "100 percent" rating on its proposal to provide the service, but it was deemed more costly after the Westmoreland provider was given the opportunity to rework its figures before the state awarded a contract in mid-December.

Washington County proposed having satellite offices in each county, while Westmoreland Child Care Information Inc. proposed a sole office, Fergus said.

Once the state rejected Washington County's proposal, it filed what is known as a "bid protest" with the Department of Human Services, claiming Westmoreland County "scored last in technical merit and (its) submission lacked basic requirements, such as a transition plan, mandated" by the request for proposals.

"The state negotiated a lower price with Westmoreland," Fergus said. "It did not come back and ask us for a lower price. Right now, it's an administrative appeal to the Department of Human Services.

"We're trying to save some jobs."

In its protest filed with the Department of Human Services, attorneys Michael McAuliffe Miller and LaToya Winfield Bellamy cited what they called a flaw in the process "when Westmoreland is provided ? in effect ? a do-over."

They asked the Department of Human Services to cancel or reopen the matter "using a fair, open and transparent competitive bidding process free of defects."

A spokesman for the state Department of Human Services said Friday, "I don't know if we'll be able to comment because it's an active procurement and protest."

Closing the Washington CCIS office would jeopardize the jobs of the staff of 13, which includes social workers, a financial specialist and people who check credentials.

On Thursday, Washington County commissioners agreed to hire the Harrisburg law firm of Eckert Seamans to handle its appeal with Human Services at a cost of $260 an hour.

Washington County CCIS bills itself as "the hub for information about choosing child care and other children's services ... dealing with issues such as children's health, nutrition, safety and special needs."

To qualify for CCIS, parents and caretakers must be working or attending job training for a minimum of 20 hours a week; have a promise of a job within 30 days of applying for the program; or be teen parents attending an education program.

A single parent with one child, for example, can have a maximum annual income of $32,480.