According to a bill dated Aug. 21, the state was charged $318,000 for a lifetime license for PrepMod Public Heath Bundle, an "end-to-end system" that promised to "automate all aspects of managing public health programming, including pandemics and other public health emergencies."
The price tag does not include customizations which a quote detailed would cost an additional $125 an hour.
On Jan. 7, the state was charged another $43,086 for a "project manager" and $77,445 for "senior development," records state.
Maryland Partnership for Prevention — the company behind PrepMod — has charged the state a grand total of $438,531, according to records obtained via a public records request.
PrepMod is the state's largest online appointment booking vendor. It's behind the maimmunizations.org registration website that was overwhelmed by influx of appointment-seekers last Thursday.
"It's very interesting to me that the state began looking into this in August," Sen. Joanne Comerford told the Herald.
The Northampton Democrat is co-chair of the Legislature's new joint COVID-19 oversight committee, which on Thursday holds the first in a series of oversight hearings digging into the Baker administration's vaccine rollout.
PrepMod wasn't the only vaccine booking technology that failed last week. The state's Vaxfinder website — vaxfinder.mass.gov — developed by Project Beacon to help people find available vaccine appointments at the 165 vaccination sites, also crashed.
The state has not responded to a public records request for the Project Beacon contract.
Kate Reilly of the state's COVID-19 Command Center, condemned the problems with both sites as "unacceptable." It's still unclear what — if any — consequences will come.
Baker — who said his "hair's on fire" over the issues — as well as Health Secretary Marylou Sudders, are expected answer for the website failures and other issues when they testify Thursday before the Legislature.
Because of the pandemic emergency, state officials can enter into contracts outside of the typical procurement process outlined in state law. It's unclear if other vendors submitted quotes.
The Baker administration did not respond to additional questions on Monday.
The state has received $213 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and another $62 million through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to help pay for vaccination efforts. It's unclear what funds paid for the PrepMod contract.
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