Cordant & Judicial Contract Restructure FAQ

The Colorado Judicial Department and Cordant have been working together to change the contract structure for drug and alcohol testing collection services.  The restructure should make for a more efficient process for vendors and the Judicial Department while increasing client equity across the State. 

Below are the current and future states of the Judicial contract process for substance testing; changes in the process are bolded.  We anticipate changes being in effect in the fall of 2023; following this chart is a list of frequently asked questions.

COLLECTION SITES / SERVICE AGREEMENT

How will the list of agencies be generated and who is responsible to ensure that list is available for clients, probation officers and vendors?

Judicial will provide its current collection site provider list to Cordant and Cordant will attempt to contract with each current provider.  Thereafter, Cordant will maintain a list of their subcontractors.  Judicial may request additional subcontractors.  Cordant will provide a list of subcontractors to Judicial, including probation departments, which includes site-specific testing fees.

How will the lab solicit UA vendors?

Cordant will contact all vendors that are currently collecting for Judicial throughout the state to initiate a contract.  If you do not hear from Cordant by August 21, 2023, please contact 800-348-4422, option 1 and provide your name, company name, contact information, and district(s) that you collect for so they can reach out to you.  Subsequent to the initial contracting process that will occur in August through October, all collection sites are subject to approval by Judicial.

Will contracts with the lab be the same for every vendor they choose to contract with?

Yes, there will be one Collection Service Agreement that includes the scope of services specific to the requirements of Colorado Judicial.

Will there be a limit on the number of vendors awarded a contract?

Cordant will attempt to contract with the existing collection sites in each district.  If a district currently limits the vendors that can collect for the district, that same limit will apply under Cordant’s management of the network.

With the UA contract now going directly between the lab and the vendors, will all
vendor staff providing collection services be required to go through the Judicial
background checks?

Yes; Collection Sites shall ensure that all individuals who perform services as a subcontractor must pass a criminal history check before working under the Agreement, which shall be valid for two years.  All such criminal history checks will be carried out, at no charge to the Collection Site or the individual, by the Judicial Department’s Human Resources Division.

Since the lab will now be the contract holder will the State remove its indemnity
clause?

Judicial will still require the indemnity clause of Cordant. Cordant will have an indemnity clause in their contracts that are held with the collection sites.

Collection Process

If the lab contracts with several vendors in a district, and clients are allowed to utilize any vendor, how will the Sentry voucher system ensure that all vendors have access to view and use the voucher in Sentry?

This situation exists today and will not change.  If a collection site is allowed to collect for a district, that site will have the appropriate access within Sentry to perform collections and to see whether vouchers exist for individual probationers during the collection process.

Will panels be standardized across the State?

No; consistent with current practice and Judicial’s contract with Cordant, Judicial Districts will have the option to customize which panels they utilize.

What will Chiefs or other agencies have to do to get new panels added so all vendors
are allowed to provide the UA service?

Judicial districts can contact Cordant to add new panels or testing options.

Will there be language in the lab contracts addressing transgender observation?

The contract will require that, in all instances, collection site employees who are observing the collection of a urine specimen be the same gender as the probationer providing the specimen.

Monitoring protocols are very important to make sure tests provided follow the chain of custody. Will all vendors be required to follow the same monitoring protocols and who will monitor the vendors to ensure the monitoring is being done properly?

Yes, all vendors are required to follow the collection requirements for Colorado Judicial, which will be listed in the scope of services within the collection service agreement.  Monitoring will take place by Cordant.

Current policy is that all UAs are required to be monitored/line of sight? Will this still be policy and in the contracts?

Yes, all UAs are to be monitored/line of sight. All collection requirements will be included in the scope of services within the collection service agreement.

Payment / Billing 

How do you arrive at the standardized collection fee? If we ask for a collection fee of $25 but another agency asks for a collection fee of $20 or $30, is there a median price? Will it vary from agency to agency? My understanding was to make the price universal statewide no matter the judicial district or agency, is that correct? 

The statewide collection fee applies to the contract between Cordant and Judicial.  The collection fee paid to individual collection sites will be defined in the contract between Cordant and the collection site.

Would this apply to all clients or only specific funded clients, meaning would collection sites be responsible for the lab fees for those clients that pay out of pocket?

In cases of self-pay (client-pay), clients will pay for the cost of both the UA collection fee and lab testing fee.  The collection site will then be responsible for paying the testing fees to Cordant.  In cases of state-pay, the Judicial department will pay for the cost of both the collection fee and testing fee directly to Cordant and Cordant will pay the collection fee to the collection site.

Since the lab sets the price for and retains fees associated with the lab test, why can't the lab invoice the State for their fee on client-paid UAs? It would be easier for vendors to allow the lab to invoice the state for all client fees and allow the drop site to only be responsible for the collection fees.

In cases of state pay, the lab will invoice the State for its lab fees and for the fees of the collection site.  Cordant will then submit payment of the subcontracted collection fee to the collection site.

In cases of client paid UAs, the client is responsible for all costs associated with the test (including collection and testing fees).  The collection site collects this total amount from the client; thus, since the collection site collected the testing fee, they pay Cordant the cost of the testing fee.  Payment in these self-pay (client-pay) cases will continue to be made to the collection sites (and not the lab) to continue to allow for probationers to pay by cash, credit/debit card and check.

If the lab bills the state monthly and the vendors are invoicing the lab for collections fees, how timely will the lab be required to pay the vendors after submitting an invoice for state pay UAs?

Vendors will only invoice Cordant for the collections that are associated with collections for state-pay collections.  Cordant’s payment terms are net 30 from invoice date.  Payment terms will be included in the contract.

Will pricing be the same across all panels for all vendors who contract with the lab, both for vouchers and client-pay?

The drug testing prices are defined in the contract between Cordant and Judicial and will apply to all testing performed for Judicial clients.  A testing menu and pricing schedule will be provided to the collection sites for each district that they collect for.

Who would be responsible for the oral swab fee?

Upon implementation of this new contract structure, Cordant will bundle the price of the oral fluid collection device with the lab testing fee.  Collection sites will order oral fluid collection devices from Cordant as needed, but a separate fee for the collection devices will not be charged at the time the devices are ordered.  In cases of self-pay (client-pay), clients will pay for the cost of both the oral swab collection fee and lab testing fee.  In cases of state-pay, the Judicial department will pay for the cost of both the collection fee and testing fee.

How would collection sites re-coop the cost for supplies of oral swab fee? 

The cost of all collection and shipping supplies will be included in the testing costs for each panel.  The collection site will not be required to purchase the oral fluid collection devices at the time the supplies are ordered, as is the case today.

For collection cups and manual forms, who is responsible for supply fees? 

The cost of all collection and shipping supplies will be included in the testing costs for each panel.  As such, the client (for client-pay) or the State (for state-pay) will be responsible for the cost of supplies.

Psilocybin tests require additional supplies that are not provided by the lab; how do collection sites re-coop the cost of those supplies if there is only one collection fee for all tests? 

Psilocybin tests are not currently included in the contract between Colorado Judicial and Cordant.  If a psilocybin test is required, Judicial will work with both the collection site and Cordant on the requirements of the test.

If the lab raises their lab fees will the vendors be allowed to automatically raise their site
fee?

Testing (lab) fees are separate from the costs of collection fees; an increase in lab fees does not translate to an increase in collection fees.  However, it would result in an increase in the overall cost of UAs paid by Judicial or the client, so collection sites will continue to be compensated for the collection site fee as they were before.

Confirmations 

How will confirmations be requested and paid for?  Who would be responsible for those fees? 

The Judicial Department will be responsible for requesting confirmations directly from Cordant.  Regardless of whether the original sample was paid by Judicial or by the client, the lab will bill Judicial for the cost of all confirmation tests.