The department shall formulate criteria for approval and designation of local Multipurpose Senior Services Program sites. The criteria shall include, but need not be limited to, all of the following:

(a) Specifications for a social and health review team to evaluate older individuals and to ensure that continuity of social, economic, and health services is provided to maintain older individuals at the appropriate level of care.

(b) Development of social and health services necessary to maintain the older individual at the appropriate level of care.

(c) Specifications for the quality of the social and health services to be provided.

(d) Coordination and integration of the social and health services described in Section 9561.

(e) The number of local sites, which shall be consistent with the funds made available for purposes of this chapter.

(f) Coordination with local governmental and nonprofit agencies concerned with multipurpose senior services.

(g) Maximize utilization of local resources, including service provided by established community-based senior citizen organizations and information and referral networks.

(h) Specifications for the evaluation of the proposals submitted for the new local sites and for the evaluation of the local sites.

(i) Conditions for determining the need for procurement of existing sites. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the department is not required to procure existing sites by the competitive bidding process, unless it deems it in the best interests of the state to do so.

(Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 558, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2001.)