Mayor and Council Communication 25-0845: agreement with Rightway Healthcare for administration of the city's pharmacy benefits

What this document is

This is Mayor and Council Communication 25-0845, dated September 16, 2025, a two page memo asking the Fort Worth City Council to authorize an agreement with Rightway Healthcare, Inc. for "Administration of the City's Pharmacy Benefits in an Amount Up to $2,032,160.00, for the Initial Three-Year Term with the Option to Renew for Two Additional One-Year Terms for the Same Amount at the City's Sole Discretion" (page 1). It is an award memo. The agreement is not attached.

What it does tell us

The memo says RFP No. 25-0120 "outlined detailed scope of services including claims administration, financial guarantees on discounts and rebates, reporting, and customer service for active employees, retirees, and surviving spouses" (page 1). That phrase matters. The city asked bidders for financial guarantees on discounts and rebates, so the executed agreement should contain guarantee exhibits. The RFP ran in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for six Wednesdays from April 16 through May 21, 2025, and nine responses came in. An evaluation panel of Human Resources and Police Department staff and a retired city employee scored them, and the top five were interviewed and invited to submit best and final offers (page 1).

The score table shows Rightway Healthcare at 83.09, OptumRx at 65.56, BCBSTX at 62.98, CVS Health at 62.83 and Perform Rx, LLC at 56.88 (page 1). Cost was factor a. Rightway's cost score of 18.76 came in below CVS Health at 20 and Perform Rx at 18.88; Rightway won on quality of proposal, 21.67 against the next best 13.33. The agreement begins January 1, 2026 and expires three years later, with two one year renewals the city can exercise without returning to the council if funds are appropriated (page 2). Funding is budgeted in the Claims Administration Expense account of the Group Health Insurance and Retiree Healthcare Trust Funds, and "the actual amount used will be based on the needs of the department and available budget" (page 2).

Why it cannot be scored

The memo tells us who won and why staff preferred them. It does not contain the agreement, the fee schedule, the discount and rebate guarantees the RFP asked for, the definition of rebate, audit rights, or termination terms. Our checklist scores contract clauses, and there are none here. A high score on "quality of proposal" is the panel's judgment, not a term the city can enforce.

A Fort Worth resident can ask the city secretary under the Texas Public Information Act for the executed agreement with Rightway Healthcare, Inc. under RFP 25-0120 and M&C 25-0845, with every exhibit, including the pricing and financial guarantee schedules, plus Rightway's best and final offer. This agreement replaced the city's OptumRx arrangement, which ran from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2025 under M&C 22-0551 and M&C 25-0358 and is catalogued separately, also without contract text. Asking for both at once would let a reader see whether the change of vendor changed the terms.