Approval of these actions will result in expenditures of up to $1,500,000 over the five-year period between July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2027 and will be funded 100% by the Hospital Enterprise Fund I revenues.
Since 2010, the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center (CCRMC) Clinical Laboratory has utilized Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., reagents, along with various controls, methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) media, hemoglobin A1C for diabetes, and other supplies in the lab's chemistry, urinalysis, and microbiology sections. These sections of the lab utilize these reagents and supplies to perform routine testing on patient samples daily. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. provides high-performance products and has a proven track record for quality and innovation for over 70 years. Bio Rad Laboratories, Inc. supplies have aided us in streamlining our workflow by reducing our reagent waste, increasing our productivity, and helping to optimize our costs while providing quality diagnostic results. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. provides the lab confidence in their products simultaneously providing our lab professionals the materials they need to attain accurate patient results facilitating in excellent patient care. The equipment that the laboratory currently has is supplied by Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. and are sole proprietary for the analyzer used by CCRMC for diagnostic testing. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. is an awarded suppler for third-party laboratory controls on the Vizient Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) contract portfolio.
CCRMC Clinical Laboratory has been reviewing the Bio-Rad Vizient contract in order for the laboratory to obtain best pricing based on their market share for the purchase of consumables for CCRMC and the Contra Costa Health Centers. Due to an administrative error, Laboratory staff signed an agreement directly with Bio-Rad providing for five year fixed pricing and penalties for not meeting their market share commitment. Bio-Rad has since agreed to terminate this agreement and approved Tier 3 pricing on the Vizient contract, which provides three (3) year fixed pricing at a discounted rate in exchange for a 90% market share commitment. Bio-Rad is the sole provider for thirty party controls at CCRMC, however, in the event CCRMC does not meet their market share commitment, Bio-Rad will re-slot CCRMC to the appropriate tier for future purchases. Unlike the agreement signed by the Lab, the approval of the LOP eliminates all financial obligation to Bio-Rad for past purchases. In the meantime, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has invoiced consumables for CCRMC Clinical Laboratory for the period of July 1, 2022 to present.
On July 11, 2017, the Board of Supervisors approved item C.141 to execute a blanket purchase order with Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. in the an amount not to exceed $370,000 for the period July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2022 to purchase reagents and supplies for the D-100 Hemoglobin Testing System at CCRMC.
On February 12, 2019, the Board of Supervisors approved item C.107 to execute an amendment to purchase order 09142 with Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. to increase the payment limit by $100,000 for a new payment limit of $470,000 for the period July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2022.
On July 14, 2020, the Board of Supervisors approved agenda item C.91 to execute an amendment to purchase order 09142 with Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. to increase the payment limit by $450,000 to a new payment limit of $920,000 and agenda item C.90 to execute a purchase order with Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. in the amount of $400,000 for the period of July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2022 for reagents and supplies for the Clinical Laboratory at CCRMC and Contra Costa Health Centers.
On June 28, 2022, and Laboratory staff member signed a Quality Controls Purchase Agreement letter with Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. without having gone through the appropriate County procedures required by California Government Code and Board of Supervisors authority. The Department is therefore requesting that the Quality Controls Purchase Agreement be terminated, as agreed upon by both parties. CCRMC staff have been reminded of County procurement and contracting County policies to prevent this from happening in the future.
Approval of the requested purchase order will allow the Clinical Laboratory at CCRMC to continue to purchase reagents and supplies from this vendor with one purchase order through June 30, 2027.
If these actions are not approved, the CCRMC Clinical Laboratory will be committed to a five year agreement with Bio-Rad, in which they will need to reimburse Bio-Rad in the event they did not achieve their market share commitment. The Clinical Laboratory will not have a purchase order available to meet their financial obligation to procure the third-party controls. Approval of this Board Order will allow for the termination of this contract, approve the Vizient Tier 4 LOP, and provide funding to support the testing requirements for the hospital. Without third party controls, CCRMC will experience a significant negative impact on patient care and diabetes monitoring especially in the Emergency Room, where timely results are utmost needed. Physicians will experience delayed turnaround time for test results, thus impacting their ability to diagnose and treat their patients. Further, the lab would need to send patient samples out to reference laboratories, which will result in an increase in the cost per test and additional courier fees.