Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration defended Thursday a $40 million contract extension with a Kansas-based company to staff shelters for migrants.

The city’s Department of Family and Support Services signed the yearlong contract extension Monday with Favorite Healthcare Staffing, the city’s procurement website shows. The city has paid the vendor at least $56 million, with numerous hours of overtime paid at a higher rate, the Chicago Tribune previously reported.

The extension also comes amid the Johnson administration’s continued pledges to hire Chicago agencies to staff city shelters in order to employ local residents and keep costs down. Johnson’s First Deputy Chief of Staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas told reporters Thursday it would be “irresponsible” not to have the contract in place and rely on Favorite Healthcare Staffing as a backup option.

“We look forward to continuing to work with the City on this important mission,” a spokesperson for the firm, which was first hired to staff migrant shelters during former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration, said in a statement Thursday.

In response to a recent request for proposals for local firms to staff 15 shelter sites, Pacionze-Zayas said the city is reviewing 21 proposals from nine agencies. But the proposals were only for 11 shelter sites. The four remaining sites at the Broadway Armory, Brands Park, Piotrowski Park and North Park Village did not receive any bids for staff, Pacione-Zayas said.

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“To be responsible and make sure that we staff our shelters, we have to have that in place as a stopgap measure,” Pacione-Zayas said of the contract with Favorite Healthcare Staffing. “Now we have renegotiated with Favorite on several occasions to push them in terms of the goals with transitioning for local hires.”

Since the request for proposals was issued, Pacione-Zayas said the city has since opened 10 more shelters that require 24-hour staff. The city aims to select vendors by mid-November, and is also seeking vendors to provide meals in city shelters.

Monday’s contract extension shows hourly rates have been reduced for some positions. For example, a logistics position’s hourly rate ranges from $56-$76 per hour, compared to the $80 per hour charged prior to Sept. 30, according to the contract extension.

Several alderpersons have been critical of the city’s multimillion dollar contracts with firms to support its care for asylum-seekers, and Pacione-Zayas said the administration shares concerns around exorbitant overtime costs.

“We have concerns and that’s precisely why we opened up an RFP so that we can begin to have local Chicagoans and organizations be responsible for this work,” Pacione-Zayas said.

Last month, the city inked a one-year, up to $29.4 million contract with a controversial Virginia-based firm that has been the subject of allegations of abusive labor practices and treatment of workers to construct base camps to house migrants in tent structures ahead of winter.

GardaWorld Federal Services has begun hiring as the city assesses a potential site for a base camp in Brighton Park that could house at least 2,000 people. Positions include a site supervisor, with a salary listed between $100,000 to $150,000, according to a GardaWorld Federal Services job posting.

“Once the facility is operational and welcoming asylum seekers and other migrants, a transition will be made to hiring local service providers and Chicago residents,” reads a city website answering questions about the site.

The site being evaluated for the base camp has had a history of industrial use that has raised concerns for environmental groups whether health risks are present, the Sun-Times reported. Pacione-Zayas said Thursday the city’s environmental assessment is still underway.

WBEZ’s Tessa Weinberg covers city government and politics.