Agency Education Department

Contractor MOUSE, Inc.

SWIFT Contract Number 184025

Project Name Javits Grant, Universal Plus

Project Number (if applicable) {Empty}

Summarize purpose of the contract, including why it was necessary: MDE contracted with MOUSE, Inc. to provide professional learning for educators and develop curriculum for classroom use. Each activity was outlined within the Jacob K. Javits Grant awarded to MDE for Universal Plus. During the life of the grant, MOUSE agreed to: develop a virtual professional development training on computer science instruction that highlights and defines computer science and computational teaching for educators and introduces paired programming through physical computing for students (“Virtual Training”); provide the Virtual Training for three cohorts of teachers, separated by grade when possible; develop curriculum on physical computing (utilizing Makey Makey’s and Scratch to create physical devices) and computational thinking (“Computational Curriculum”) to be used by the 15 sub-grantee school sites.

Project Duration

Start Date Thu, 10/01/2020 - 00:00

Original end date Sun, 06/30/2024 - 00:00

Actual end date Thu, 06/30/2022 - 00:00

Did project finish on time? Yes

Total billable hours utilized (if applicable) {Empty}

Contract Amounts

Original contract: $30000.00

Amendments $15000.00

Contract total $45000.00

Did project finish within budget? Yes

What was the funding source? federal

Is this a sole source contract? Yes

If this was a single source contract, explain why the agency determined there was only a single source for the services (if applicable) MDE applied for and was awarded a federal grant through the U.S. Department of Education’s Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program (Javits Grant). The grant application required MDE to identify specific services needed, key personnel, and a vendor to provide sub-grantees with a computer science program and training. Mouse, Inc. was written into the grant application due to their experience, high quality curriculum, and professional development experiences. MDE received the grant based in part on its inclusion of Mouse, Inc. in its grant application.
Mouse, Inc. is uniquely qualified to provide the services because it developed the software/curriculum and is the only vendor able to sell the same and train schools on its use.

Evaluator Name Wendy Behrens

Evaluator Email Address wendy.behrens@state.mn.us

Evaluate the contractor's timeliness Due to COVID and high turnover, the vendor did not have the capacity to provide all deliverables as expected.

Evaluate the contractor's quality Deliverables received were adequate.

Evaluate the contractor's cost The cost of the contract was as expected.

Evaluate the contractor's overall performance The contractor’s performance was hampered by high turnover and on-going staffing issues.

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.): Due to staffing issues, the contractor was unable to complete all deliverables. MDE only paid for deliverables satisfactory completed. For us to engage the contractor’s services again, we would need assurance that staffing had stabilized and there was capacity to complete the work achieved.

Please rate the overall experience with the contractor 2 - dissatisfied