Library: Policy
340:105-10-41. Title III direct services waivers
Revised 9-15-2021
(a) Policy. Provisions under the Older Americans Act (OAA), including subsequent amendments, specify which Title III direct services are authorized or prohibited under the law. Direct services otherwise prohibited by OAA may be permitted by the State Agency if, in the State Agency's judgment, provision of the services is:
(1) necessary to ensure an adequate supply of the services;
(2) related to the administrative functions of the Area Agency on Aging (AAA); or
(3) more economical and of comparable quality. • 1
(b) Authority. The authority for this Section is Section 307(a)(8) of the OAA of 1965, as amended.
(c) Procedures. A recipient of a direct service waiver (DSW) must employ a minimum of one staff person dedicated to a waivered service, for at least 40 hours per week. Exceptions to the 40 hours per week requirement may be considered by the State Agency on an individual case by case basis. State Agency denial may result in the issuance of a revised request for proposal by the AAA. The State Agency determines that one or more of the criteria listed in (a) of this Section are met for an AAA to provide direct services when the requirement of:
(1) the necessity to ensure an adequate supply of services is considered met. The AAA can document that it did not receive any proposals to deliver a service in all, or a portion of the planning and service area, after the AAA carried out the request for proposals (RFP) process, per Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC) 340:105-10-101;
(2) services related to AAA administrative functions is considered met. Services consist of advocacy, assessment and screening, follow-up and evaluation, information and assistance (I&A), and placement. The State Plan on Aging:
(A) indicates all AAAs are allowed to directly provide I&A services; and
(B) names the AAAs allowed to directly provide case management services; or
(3) more economical and of comparable quality is considered met. The AAA service grant application substantiates that, according to AAA standard RFP evaluation criteria, it proposes to provide a priority service more cost effective and of a comparable quality. The cost is calculated on a per unit of service basis.
(d) Competitive bidding process. Sub-contracting with a third party entity to provide services under the DSW appears to side-step the competitive bidding process and is not allowed.
(e) Cross references. Refer to OAC 340:105-10-40 and 340:105-10-101.
1. The Area Agency on Aging (AAA) requests and documents the justification to grant authority to provide a direct service for the duration of the approved Area Plan, or for all or part of the period of a proposed Area Plan.
(1) The AAA submits a completed direct service waiver (DSW) application packet to the State Agency.
(2) When submitting a DSW, additional steps are followed when a grant application received in response to an request for proposals (RFP) is denied by the AAA. The steps in (A)–(D) need to occur.
(A) Aging Services (AS) may request all grant applications received in response to an RFP which were considered and denied for which the AAA is now requesting a DSW.
(B) AS reviews the denied grant applications and compares them with the AAA DSW application packet.
(C) AS makes a determination to approve or deny the AAA DSW request.
(D) AAA provides AS documentation of the efforts to publicize the availability of funds, in addition to the completed DSW application packet, when the reason for the AAA DSW request is based on lack of a service provider response to an RFP.
