Agency Health Department

Contractor KA Nicholas Consulting

SWIFT Contract Number 245830

Project Name Diabetes Community Conversations

Project Number (if applicable) {Empty}

Summarize purpose of the contract, including why it was necessary: The contract had three purposes: 1) to support the design and implementation of two pairs of community conversations with African American populations in the Twin Cities Metro and American Indian populations in Greater Minnesota, populations greatly impacted by diabetes about barriers related to preventing and managing diabetes and to start to explore ways to address challenges; 2) support collaborative analyses of data from the community conversations and sharing data back with community; and 3) to provide MDH staff with additional training on how to engage community members in this work.

Project Duration

Start Date Sun, 03/10/2024 - 00:00

Original end date Mon, 12/30/2024 - 00:00

Actual end date Mon, 12/30/2024 - 00:00

Did project finish on time? Yes

Total billable hours utilized (if applicable) {Empty}

Contract Amounts

Original contract: $38903.00

Amendments $209.70

Contract total $39112.70

Did project finish within budget? Yes

What was the funding source? Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Is this a sole source contract? No

If this was a single source contract, explain why the agency determined there was only a single source for the services (if applicable) {Empty}

Evaluator Name Renee Kidney

Evaluator Email Address renee.kidney@state.mn.us

Evaluate the contractor's timeliness The contractor provided services in a timely manner overall. When there was need to change a timeline, they communicated proactively. There were some challenges with recruitment and the contractor worked with us to try to extend recruitment and reschedule the event. They demonstrated a lot of understanding and flexibility which was appreciated.

Evaluate the contractor's quality The contractor was very supportive of our need to build capacity among our team and was creative in how they designed a project utilizing their staff and ours to stay within budget and timeline. The project was conducted on a very tight timeline and they demonstrated flexibility and grace when we were challenged by timeline. The tight timelines and use of two different facilitators meant that there were some hiccups in communication and expectations. The contractor very much had a learning mindset and was open to receiving feedback. The community conversations yielded good discussions that were helpful in supporting development of more community engaged work that is focused more on community needs.

Evaluate the contractor's cost The cost was fair and stayed within budget.

Evaluate the contractor's overall performance The contractor fulfilled all requirements of the contract, was very committed to hosting all of the contracted conversations and ensuring that community members felt engaged and respected, and demonstrated flexibility with timelines. Our team learned a lot from the contractor and we obtained data that will support future work to address challenges related to diabetes prevention and management. In the future, I would spend more time defining the specifics of written deliverables to avoid lack of clarity in expectations.

Would you engage the contractor's services again? Yes

Describe any negative action taken during the duration of this contract (i.e., termination, pursuit of suspension, etc.): None

Please rate the overall experience with the contractor 4 - satisfied