OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-1076
AN ACT CONCERNING PUBLIC -PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS AND
PRIVATIZATION OF STATE SERVICES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
CONNECTICUT HEALTH CENTER.
Primary Analyst: JS 4/14/21
Contributing Analyst(s):
Reviewer: SB
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 22 $ FY 23 $
UConn Health Ctr. Various - See
Below
Potential
Significant
Potential
Significant
Note: Various=Various
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill may prevent or delay for up to approximately eight months
any savings, costs, or revenue generated to UConn Health Center that
would be anticipated to result from an effort to engage in a public-
private partnership or a privatization contract. The bill may affect
numerous such efforts and if so, will have significant impacts on
UConn Health's finances and daily operations, depending on the
interpretation of various provisions.
The bill requires: (1) UConn Health to file with the General
Assembly any bid solicitation or request for proposals (RFP) regarding
a public-private partnership or a privatization contract that involves
costs exceeding $1 million annually, and (2) the General Assembly to
vote to approve or reject every qualifying solicitation or RFP.
The fiscal impact of the bill depends in large part on the scope of
UConn Health public-private partnerships that would qualify for 2021SB-01076-R000494-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 3
legislative review, which is unclear in the bill language and could
potentially be broad, with significant impacts to finances and daily
operations. Under a broad interpretation, "public -private
partnerships" involving at least $1 million annually may encompass
many current or potential UConn Health services contracts that the
health system uses for daily operations. Current or recent examples of
these contracts include:
private contracted nurse and other medical staff who
temporarily fill shifts when UConn Health employees resign
and refill hiring is underway,
contracts with outside surgery groups to allow UConn
Health to fully meet patient demand in a timely way, and
supplementary lab testing capacity (e.g., during COVID-19
when volume substantially increased beyond the capacity of
UConn Health's lab).
The fiscal impact also depends on whether the bill's requirements
extend to renewals of public-private partnership contracts and to new
contracts for services previously provided by a different company.
The process created by the bill delays any costs or savings, or
revenue generated, that could be anticipated to result from any bid
solicitation or RFP covered by the bill. The length of the delay would
be equal to the amount of time between the General Assembly
receiving the UConn Health Center's filing, and the date of an
affirmative vote or rejection. The vote must occur within a specified
timeframe that is equal to 30 days if the legislature is in session, or up
to approximately eight months if not, in order for the effort to proceed.
If one chamber of the General Assembly rejects the filing, the bid
solicitation or RFP will be halted, which prevents the realization of any
savings or costs that would have resulted.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would 2021SB-01076-R000494-FN.DOCX Page 3 of 3
continue into the future. The fiscal impact depends on the
interpretation of the bill's scope, length of delay described above, and
the amount of any one-time or annual savings, costs, or revenue
anticipated to result from a bid solicitation or request for proposals
regarding public-private partnerships or a privatization contract.