Scope: Procurement Overview and Goals
The Minnesota Department of Health’s (MDH) mission is to protect, maintain, and improve the health of all Minnesotans. MDH seeks specialized skills in professional/technical services to conduct research, marketing, and planning for prevention and education programs to raise awareness about substance misuse, including cannabis, and adverse effects for two population categories.
MDH requests proposals for a contractor or contractors with expertise in conducting audience and market research, engaging with individuals of diverse backgrounds, ethnicity, demographics (e.g., rural or urban, age, gender, disability), and communities to:
* Understand engagement needs and how to best communicate with identified audiences.
* Develop messaging that employs culturally competent strategies.
* Conduct message testing.
* Develop a plan for capacity building and engagement.
This research should include identification of communication and education modalities that will best meet the needs of communication for prevention, education, and capacity building among the identified audiences, with the goal of increasing awareness of the health risks of substance use among the identified populations and preventing cannabis and other substance misuse. The contractor(s) will facilitate engagement with individuals, providers, and communities identified to develop and test communication messages for prevention and education about the harms or risks of substance use, including cannabis use as well as polysubstance use.
This Request for Proposals (RFP) is organized into two population categories and consists of two phases. Population Category 1 includes pregnant, individuals who may become pregnant, and breast or chestfeeding individuals, and Population Category 2 includes youth under age 25. The two phases are:
PHASE 1: Research and messaging. Conduct research to gain insights and understanding about individuals in each of the population categories and their beliefs about risks or harms of cannabis and other substance use misuse. Develop and test culturally responsive messages specific to each population category.
PHASE 2: Planning for capacity building and engagement. Capacity building for this RFP means identifying groups, individuals, and organizations that hold influence over the identified population categories and determining the best way to communicate and engage with those groups.
Responders may submit a proposal for one or both categories but must clearly state in their proposals the category(s) they are responding to. MDH will review and evaluate proposals by population category, including those where the Responder is submitting proposals for both categories. MDH may award multiple contracts to Responders if it is in MDH’s best interest to do so.
Due Date: 1:30pm, Central Time, April 28, 2025
Contact: Kara Skahen kara.skahen@state.mn.us
