County Office Blamed for AIDS Funds Delay : Health: Activists say officials were too slow in awarding contracts. They charge that inefficiency cost $1 million in federal aid this year.

Almost $4.5 million in federal AIDS funds given to Los Angeles County last year remains unspent because county officials were too slow in awarding contracts for services, AIDS activists charged Friday.

As a result of the inefficiency, the county lost another $1 million this year that could have helped provide health care for AIDS patients, the activists charged.

Robert Frangenberg, head of the county AIDS office, acknowledged there was a delay last year in distributing $7.8 million in Ryan White CARE Act funds. He said it took about five months to sign contracts with organizations to provide patient services. Frangenberg, who said the process has since been “streamlined,” added that the county did not receive as much money this year as it wanted, but any shortfall was not caused by mismanagement in his office.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get more money, but we got 10% more than we got last year,” Frangenberg said.

Gary Cook, an official of the federal Health Resources Services Administration, which awarded $119 million in Ryan White funds to 18 metropolitan areas in March, said he has sent Frangenberg a letter explaining why the county got less money than many had expected.

Cook said that only Frangenberg could publicly release the letter. Frangenberg was unavailable Friday and his aides refused to disclose the document.

The metropolitan areas that fared the best in a national competition for Ryan White funds were San Diego; Newark, N.J.; New York City; San Francisco; Hudson County, N.J.; Harris County, Tex., and Dade County, Fla. These areas received more than $900 per AIDS patient, with San Francisco receiving the most--$1,626.

Los Angeles County received a $695 per AIDS patient.

The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act was named after the late Indiana teen-ager who crusaded against AIDS discrimination after he contracted the disease through treatment for hemophilia. The money is designed to help states, cities and nonprofit health care facilities diagnose and treat those with AIDS.

Joined by a number of AIDS activists, Assemblyman Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) called for Frangenberg’s ouster at a Friday news conference, accusing him of “lack of leadership and incompetence.”

Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Health Care Foundation, recalled that he and others informed the county Board of Supervisors in August of a logjam in the awarding of Ryan White CARE Act contracts to community groups.

Because the contracts were awarded so late, the groups have not had time to spend the money that has been awarded to them, Weinstein said.