Avalon Health Care Inc. and HMR Veterans Services Inc. have submitted bids in response to the state Department of Veteran Affairs' request for proposals for a private company to run the Arkansas State Veterans Home in Fayetteville, an attorney for the state Department of Transformation and Shared Services said.
Lauren Ballard, the department's interim chief legal counsel, said Thursday in a written statement that "The Discussions phase of this solicitation is ongoing, so we are unable to provide any additional details until the Anticipation to Award is announced."
Ballard disclosed the names of the companies that submitted bids to run for the Fayetteville veteran's home in response to an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act request by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, after a department spokeswoman declined to disclose on Tuesday the names of the bidders and which bidder state officials are negotiating with.
On Friday, Ballard said that "It is my understanding that an anticipation to award has not yet been issued for this solicitation." The state issued the request for proposals for companies to run the veterans home on June 23, and the deadline to submit proposals was July 27, according to state records.
The Arkansas State Veterans Home in Fayetteville is a 90-bed skilled nursing facility and is located on the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' Northwest regional campus.
Meanwhile, the Legislative Council on Friday approved the state Department of Veteran Affairs' request for $1.4 million in state restricted reserve funds to help cover the cost of transitioning from state operation of the Fayetteville veterans home to a private contractor.
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Nate Todd said he established a working group of commissioners from the Arkansas Veterans Commission and department employees to evaluate the optimal operating model -- including state-run, contract or a hybrid arrangement -- for the veterans home in February 2021 and "their evaluation feedback resulted in my decision to have posted a Request for Proposal for outsource operation.
"It is the recommendation of the negotiations team that outsourced operation of the [Fayetteville veterans home] to a contractor with substantial expertise in skilled nursing facility operations and State Veterans Home operations serves the best interests of the Veterans and residents who call ASVH-F their home," he wrote in a letter dated Nov. 8 to Department of Finance and Administration Secretary Larry Walther.
Todd said the $1.4 million would be used "to wind down the State operation" of the Fayetteville veterans home and "fund one-time outsource operation startup costs."
In other action on Friday, the Legislative Council approved the state Department of the Military's latest request for $5 million in state restricted reserve funds to support the Arkansas National Guard Foundation.
The military department's latest request for $5 million for the foundation cleared legislative panels this week without any debate, after the the department's initial request for $5 million for the foundation stalled before legislative panels in the summer.
In July, the council delayed action on an initial $5 million request after state Sen. Mark Johnson, R-Ferndale, told lawmakers that his wife, Catherine Johnson, is a registered fundraising counsel who advises the group about their fundraising. Citing financial reasons, the foundation terminated its fundraising agreement with Catherine Johnson, foundation Executive Director Damon Cluck said afterward.
The state Department of the Military's latest request for $5 million to support the Arkansas National Guard Foundation will be used to retire some bond issues, Scott Stanger, the department's chief of staff, said in a letter to Walther.
He said the mission of the Arkansas National Guard Foundation is to provide charitable and educational support to members of the Arkansas National Guard, their dependents and survivors, veterans and other charitable organizations that support veteran communities in Arkansas, Stanger said.
Cluck said in an interview that the $5 million in state restricted reserve funds for the foundation would allow it to pay off roughly $5 million in bonds of the nonprofit Arkansas National Guard Morale, Welfare and Recreation Fund. The fund has bond payments for facilities at Camp Robinson and Fort Chaffee that military members use. With the debt paid off, the fund will be able to contribute about $200,000 a year more to the foundation to support its programs, he said.
Cluck said the foundation's initial request for $5 million in restricted reserve funds would have been used for an endowment to raise about $200,000 a year to support the foundation's programs, so the latest plan raises roughly the same amount for the foundation.
State Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, said in an interview that the foundation's latest request for $5 million "is a much better fit and solution."
The council on Friday also approved the state Department of Education's requests totaling $30 million in state restricted reserve funds to pay for improvement projects at the Arkansas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and the Arkansas School for the Deaf. Each school will get $15 million.
The council also gave final approval for $600,000 in state restricted reserve funds to the state Department of Public Safety for the State Crime Laboratory to contract with a laboratory to analyze outstanding sexual assault kits; $482,000 to Southern Arkansas University Tech for construction of a one-story burn building at the Arkansas Fire Training Academy; $250,000 to the state Department of Education for a grant to the nonprofit association Arkansas Community Colleges; and $157,891 to the state Department of Education for Northwest Technical Institute.
The council also approved Gov. Asa Hutchinson's request to transfer $100,000 in rainy day funds to the Department of Education for grants to higher education institutions to support on-campus food pantries throughout the state.