This section names the act as the State Department of Health Services Cooperative Agreement Act. It allows the act to be referred to by this title.

This law aims to make managing public health programs easier and cheaper for the State Department of Health Services. It also encourages state and local governments, as well as nonprofit organizations, to try innovative ways to solve local public health issues.

This law defines what constitutes a "cooperative agreement" in relation to public health programs in California. A cooperative agreement is a contract between the State Department of Health Services and local government units, state government units, or nonprofit organizations. These agreements cover various health programs, including those for AIDS, agricultural worker health, American Indian health, rural health development, clinical grants, access to primary care, birth defects monitoring, maternal and child health, nutrition programs for women and children, perinatal care, family planning, and hereditary disorders. Furthermore, it includes other public health programs authorized by specific sections or budget provisions.

This law requires the department to follow specific rules and procedures outlined in several referenced sections and chapters of other legal documents. It involves compliance with various administrative and procedural provisions, including grievance and appeal processes, which must be observed according to the referenced sections of both the Health and Safety and Government Codes.

This section explains how cooperative agreements are awarded by the department. They can be procured via a request for application or a request for proposal. A request for application is used when the department has funds to distribute to qualified entities and often results in multiple awards. A request for proposal, however, must follow specific legal requirements from the Public Contract Code. Usually, agreements last three years, but one-year agreements can be extended twice. Exceptions where formal requests aren't needed include agreements under $50,000 annually, certain smaller programs, and ongoing delivery of services in the WIC program. In these cases, awards can skip the formal request process, subject to specific conditions.

This law allows the department the flexibility to sign one comprehensive agreement with a contractor if the contractor applies for different programs offered by the department. Essentially, it simplifies the process by combining multiple program requests into one contract.

This law section requires program staff to handle various tasks when managing cooperative agreements. They must create and issue all proposals or application requests, evaluate the received proposals and applications, decide on the awardees, and keep track of the awardees' progress.

This law outlines the payment methods that must be used in cooperative agreements by the department, specifying four possible systems: costs up to a maximum amount, fixed payment per unit of service, fixed monthly payment, and fixed price agreement. If using the allowable cost system, the agreement needs a detailed budget covering personnel, operating expenses, capital expenditures, and other specified costs, including a fixed indirect cost. Nonprofits or government units in the agreement can propose changes to the project, which the department must approve or disapprove in writing within 30 days. If they don't respond in time, the changes are automatically approved.

This law requires a department to create standard, easy-to-use agreement formats involving all parties to simplify and unify administrative processes. The goal is to make things more consistent and user-friendly while ensuring financial responsibility. These standard agreements will focus on key operational needs like payment systems and reporting but won't cover specific project details like budgets or work scopes.

Working groups with representatives from all parties can be formed to help implement this process. Once these standard formats are finalized, any changes to them must be available for public review before they are made, unless required by other laws or regulations.

This law outlines rules for cooperative agreements involving a department or contractor. If they wish to end a cooperative agreement, they must provide at least 30 days of written notice.

The department has the authority to reject any proposal or application if the entity has not complied with the terms of previous contracts or agreements with them.

If any state or local government organization fails to meet the agreement's requirements, they must return any funds they received.

This law talks about cooperative agreements for buying electronic data processing or telecommunications products and services up to $50,000, allowing them to skip certain public contract regulations.

Agreements with government units for capital equipment use the contractor's current procurement systems. Nonprofits must follow specific procurement standards, ensuring no conflicts of interest, promoting open competition, avoiding unnecessary purchases, providing detailed solicitation requirements, and prioritizing small and minority-owned businesses. The Director of General Services can exempt purchases over $50,000 from these rules if it's in the state's best interest, but must notify the Controller.

However, the specific rule in subdivision (a) is not active after June 30, 1997.

This law states that any cooperative agreements with nonprofit organizations, regardless of their size, must follow specific rules about late payments as detailed in another law. It also gives a department certain authority as outlined in another set of laws. However, when it comes to using money from a specific fund, that can only happen if the Legislature approves it.

Before signing a cooperative agreement, the department has the option to notify the Controller about the award details, including the recipient's name and the funding amount. They can also request an initial payment for the organization, which can be up to 25% of the total approved funding.

This law section ensures that for any California State Department of Health Services contract over $250,000, contractors have the option to substitute securities for withheld payments, which are held to guarantee performance of the contract. If allowed, these securities are deposited with a bank acting as an escrow agent, and upon successful contract completion, they are returned to the contractor.

Alternatively, the contractor can direct retention earnings to be paid to the escrow agent and invested in securities, with the interest going to the contractor. Contractors must pay subcontractors their share of interest within 20 days of receiving it, minus any related costs.

Securities used in this arrangement are specified and include government-listed securities, deposit certificates, and mutual options agreed upon by the contractor and the department. Not including these substitution provisions in the contracts can void performance retention clauses.

This section outlines the rules for cooperative agreements and their review by the Department of General Services (DGS). Generally, agreements must be approved by the DGS, but there are exceptions such as certain changes to work scope and small budget adjustments that don’t change the total contract amount. Some programs are expressly exempt from DGS approval if allowed by statute.

Nonprofit organizations or government agencies that get cooperative agreements aren’t required to meet minority, women, and disabled veteran participation goals under certain conditions. These include agreements under $100,000 annually, nonprofits with boards mostly composed of these groups, or if agreements come from applications.

The Director of General Services can also waive the need for approval on agreements if it benefits the state, and any exemptions must be reported to the Controller. The specifics about minority and women participation goals became irrelevant after June 30, 1997.