Chair Lee on teen telepsychiatry contract and TeenSpace program

Okay, so DOHMH has a three-year contract accounting for $26 million with a CBO called Somethings for a telepsychiatry service program for teens.

And the contract is set to expire at the end of FY26.

So just wondering what is the update you can provide for this specific contract, and can you elaborate more about the service?

Yeah, so first of all, the service that we are providing here is one that we take very seriously.

This is teen mental health.

And for teens, you have to be able to meet them wherever they are.

And in this case, we are trying to meet them digitally.

And so that's what you're seeing with the work that we're doing on Teen Space.

The contract that we're talking about here is one that we are trying to

re-procure and do it in a fair way, in a transparent way, and also we're making sure that we can continue to deliver the service so that there is no service disruption for teens that are involved.

I'm going to hand it to Dr.

Petit to share a little bit more on the details here.

Yeah, thank you again.

So this contract was actually a demonstration, a three-year demonstration project, so it's about to end in October, and we are going through the process of a concept paper and ultimately a reprocurement of it.

I think what's really important is that there is an evaluation tied to this so that we can actually determine not just lessons learned.

over the last three years, but where things are at currently, like we talked about a little bit earlier, where we are today is very different than where we were three years ago, especially with a lot of this technology.

So, you know, TeamSpace is a free, regardless of zip code, you know, location or wherever, an individual, a kid 13 to 17 can actually access, you know, talk, text, or chat in a free way.

So it's been incredibly helpful and impactful.

We've had over 45,000 registrations since inception, and I think we can do more with this, and that's why we're looking at a procurement process that will help us shape this going forward.

Okay, and it's kind of crazy to think that in three years the technology has advanced so much in that short time as well.

Okay, so just to confirm, because I think we had heard that DOHMH was not considering renewing the grant starting in FY27, but you're saying that you are going to look at issuing out a new RFP and then putting that out?

Yeah, so we will extend the contract until a procurement is out on the street.

Okay, and you're saying that should be around October 27, right?

Or 27?

So the contract is up now.

Right.

Or it's terminating now.

We will be extending the contract as we're going through the process of the concept paper and the RFP.

Right.

So the extension will be...

Until the next contract is able, until we're able to procure the next contract.

Okay, and then,

When do you think that would be, the new RFP to be released?

Hopefully before the end of the year we'll have an RFP out.

Okay, perfect.

Just wanted to check.

Okay, let's see.