To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Katherine Smith, Director, Community Resources
Prepared By:
prepared
Brad Kamby, Division Manager, Judicial Services
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presenter
Presenter: Katherine Smith, Director, Community Resources
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Subject:
title
1:00 PM * Community Corrections Request a Waiver Per the Purchasing Policy
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
Judicial Services is requesting that the BOCC approve a waiver per the purchasing policy process for select source contracts for community corrections between the County and CoreCivic, LLC, and GEO Reentry, Inc.
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Alignment with Strategic Plan: Safe and Healthy Communities - Advance public safety by strengthening partnerships across law enforcement, emergency response, and community stakeholders.
Background and Discussion: Arapahoe County receives its community corrections funding from the State of Colorado through the Department of Public Safety, Division of Criminal Justice (DCJ). DCJ distributes these funds based on each county’s documented use of available community corrections capacity. For Fiscal Year 2025-2026, Arapahoe County has been allocated a total of $7,592,287.63, broken down as follows: Residential Community Corrections Services (260) beds: $6,774,447.45; non-Residential Services: $293,876.10; one-time payments to Local Programs: $228,964.08 ($76,321.36 to each of the three programs); and Treatment Services: $295,000.00.
In Colorado, community corrections providers are reimbursed through a State-set per-diem rate for each client in residential placement and for each client supervised on non-residential status. Arapahoe County is served by three long-standing community corrections programs: Arapahoe County Residential Center (ACRC) - owned and operated by GEO Reentry; Arapahoe Community Treatment Cener (ACTC) - owned and operated by CoreCivic; and Centennial Community Transition Center (CCTC) - owned and operated by CoreCivic. Together, these programs maintain an average daily residential population of approximately 275 clients. All three facilities have operated in Arapahoe County for decades. Securing appropriate zoning for new community corrections facilities is a complex and challenging process, and both GEO and CoreCivic own the buildings in which they operate.
In order to fulfill the necessary documentation related to purchasing policies for the contracts currently underway, a waiver approval is needed by the Board of County Commissioners due to the contract amounts being over the $100,000.00 limit.
At this time, the County is not aware of other providers in Arapahoe County that have the infrastructure necessary to operate a community corrections program. Through this process, it has been identified that Arapahoe County has not gone out for RFP for these contracts in at least 25 years. With the approval of the waiver for the current existing provider contract(s), Community Resources plans to issue an RFP for future contract years to gauge other available options for these services.
Alternatives: There are no alternative providers available at this time to deliver community corrections services in Arapahoe County for FY 2025-2026. If the waiver request is not approved, the County would be unable to pay CoreCivic and GEO, requiring termination of the existing contracts. Ending these contracts would displace approximately 275 residential clients, most of whom would likely need to be returned to the Department of Corrections or the Arapahoe County Detention Facility.
Fiscal Impact: Terminating the current contracts would cause Arapahoe County to lose its community corrections funding for the remainder of FY 2025-2026 and likely for future years as well. Additionally, the loss of more than 200 community corrections beds would increase costs for the Arapahoe County Detention Facility and create a significant negative impact on the State budget.
Alignment with Strategic Implementation Strategies: N/A
Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends that the BOCC approve the waiver request for the current contract period, which ends June 30, 2026. Staff will coordinate with the Finance Department to issue an RFP for community corrections for the next funding cycle beginning July 1, 2026.
Concurrence: Finance Department