Single Source Procurement: Expanded Training in Support of ETE Blueprint Recommendations
Pursuant to New York State Finance Law § 163.10(b), The New York State Department of Health is presenting the following summary of relevant circumstances, and material and substantial reasons why a competitive procurement was not feasible.
The NYSDOH AIDS Institute is executing a contract amendment to C30286GG to fund additional opioid overdose prevention activities that are not included in the base contract, but essential to addressing the opioid epidemic.
Tremendous success has already been seen in reducing new HIV infections among persons who inject drugs. However, the recent rise in misuse of prescription opioids, heroin use, and associated opioid overdoses across New York State suggest continued efforts are needed statewide to address the evolving needs of persons who use drugs. Since 2006, NYS has supported an Opioid Overdose Prevention program aimed at making naloxone, an opioid antagonist that can prevent an opioid/heroin overdose from becoming fatal, more widely available. The AIDS Institute currently funds the Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC) to build the capacity of a wide range of health, social service and first responder agencies to educate communities about opioid overdose prevention, resulting in the registration of over 400 programs and more than 160,000 individuals trained since the inception of the program. In efforts to ensure that the medication is available as early as possible when an overdose occurs, the program was expanded to include training and equipping emergency responders and law enforcement officials with intranasal naloxone. To date, more than 10,000 law enforcement officials have been equipped, resulting in more than 2,800 overdose reversals.
There is a need to further expand efforts to ensure access to naloxone, targeting populations at risk for overdoses as well as professionals likely to be in proximity when an overdose occurs. Specifically, additional capacity building training and technical assistance services are needed to:
- Continue to build the capacity of pharmacists to dispense naloxone, and transition individuals who were getting naloxone from registered programs to instead obtain the drug from a registered pharmacy. All Medicaid Managed Care Plans are now required to cover at least one formulation of naloxone. Pharmacies are located all over the state, and open 24 hours a day in many locations. This will reduce the cost of naloxone for NYS.
- Encourage physicians to co-prescribe with opioids.
- Continue to build capacity of DOCCS to train incarcerated individuals who will soon be released, providing the option of naloxone free of charge upon release. To date, 10 facilities are doing this; the plan is to have all 54 facilities operating independently by the end of 2017.
- Train parolees and transition the trainings to community-based organizations so they can assume all responsibility moving forward.
In addition, ongoing community consultation is also necessary to standardize program policies and procedures around the quality assurance aspects of the programs and more efforts will be devoted to increasing access to buprenorphine, a medication used to help individuals stop using drugs. This may include assisting in developing trainings and materials, and providing guidance on best practices. Increasing the number of individuals prescribed buprenorphine will decrease the possibility of future drug overdoses from heroin and other opioids.
Contractors were awarded contract(s) as a result of the competitive procurement process.
| Procurement / Program Name | Expanded Training in Support of ETE Blueprint Recommendations |
|---|---|
| Contractor Name(s) | Harm Reduction Coalition |
| Contract Period | 4/1/2017 – 3/31/2020 |
| Contract Number(s) | C30286GG |
