70-U6900-26-CP286_071326 Transcending Strategies SS.pdf.PDF

UNM Proposed Sole Source Form – Rev 04/07/2021

Proposed Sole Source Purchase Form Pursuant to New Mexico Procurement law, the UNM Purchasing Department will post your completed form on the UNM Sunshine Portal and the

State of New Mexico Procurement website for 30 days prior to purchase of the goods/services.

I. GENERAL INFORMATION. PLEASE PROVIDE THE FOLLOWING:

Date of Request 7/1/2026 Requisition Number (If Applicable) P0204294 Request Submitted by: Melanie Lopez Title Program Manager

Department HSC/Project ECHO Email melrose@salud.unm.edu Phone Proposed Vendor Transcending Strategies LLC Amount $123,724

Vendor Address 5512 Marble Ave, NE Albuquerque, NM 87110 Term of Purchase

9/1/2023- 6/30/2027

Buyer Team - See Commodity list at http://purchase.unm.edu/department-information/comm-code-listing.pdf

Provide a basic description of goods/services to be provided:

Project ECHO seeks an expert with demonstrated technical, perinatal, and community health service delivery to provide our Improving Perinatal Health ECHO program with the following deliverables:

Leverage relationships with other community-based organization SMEs and collaborate with other Project ECHO team members to coordinate ECHO session implementation schedule.

In collaboration with team members, contribute to the development of a curriculum which promotes sharing of challenges, innovative solutions, best practices, evidence-based recommendations for policy changes.

In collaboration with team members, contribute to program evaluation, review of evaluation measurements, and findings. Facilitate data sharing across the network to support collective program evaluation.

Distribute electronic flyer and or marketing materials for session recruitment and community network building.

Participate/attend key state gatherings/meetings/conferences of maternal and child health and related population heath experts.

Supporting these deliverables, Project ECHO seeks a vendor who aligns with our ECHO Institute values and implements culturally-appropriate clinical guidance.

Why is this purchase needed?

This purpose of this procurement will address perinatal health disparities in NM BIPOC and rural communities by developing and implementing a community centric learning environment of support, recognition and honoring the knowledge and voices of BIPOC and community led organizations.

NM DOH maternal and infant health indicators continue to lag behind the national measures, and specifically among rural areas and within BIPOC communities, these measures of patient outcomes are significantly worse than the NM average.

Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a movement to demonopolize knowledge and amplify local capacity to provide best practice care for underserved people all over the world. The ECHO model™ is committed to addressing the needs of the most vulnerable populations by equipping communities with the right knowledge, at the right place, at the right time.

Project ECHO seeks to create a shared learning community/network among and by MCH leaders in NM and to meet the goal of our Improving Perinatal Health program to combat challenges in maternal medicine by increasing awareness of best practices in New Mexico, the Four Corners and the southwest border regions.

This effort also aligns with important state government-wide initiatives, including the White House Blueprint for Addressing Maternal Health Crisis.

II. BASIS FOR SOLE SOURCE PROCUREMENT. CHOOSE APPLICABLE BOX(ES) AND

PROVIDE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, AS REQUESTED:

Proprietary item, technology or service only available from the proposed vendor. (Check box and describe proprietary component)

Nicolle L. Gonzales is the principal director for Transcending Strategies, LLC. As a Dine’ Nurse-Midwife, from the Navajo Nation, her clans are Tl’aashchi’I, Red Bottom clan, born for Tachii’nii, Red Running into the Water clan.

Hashk’aa hadzohi, Yucca fruit-strung-out-in-a line clan, and Naasht’ezhi dine’e, Zuni clan. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing and a Master’s degree in Nurse Midwifery from the University of New Mexico. Inspiration to become a midwife stemmed from her experiences as a nurse working with the Native American communities of Northern, NM.

Her work in reclaiming indigenous midwifery and birth has informed reproductive birth justice policy changes and highlighted the current conditions in which Native American birthing families have to navigate. Her efforts to cultivate a collective resistance to current day health inequalities around Native American birthing options and women’s health, led her to create Changing Woman Initiative, a Native American Women’s-led Health collective with the mission to renew cultural birth knowledge to empower and reclaim indigenous sovereignty of women’s medicine and life way teachings.

She is a published author and writes about traditional birthing practices while weaving in Dine’ philosophies on personhood and Indigenous feminism, which inform her world views on kinship. She is considered an innovator, inspirational speaker, and has served on two birth center boards in New Mexico. She was named one of 50 Badass Women in InStyle Magazine, and has presented at countless conferences on indigenous women’s rights issues, health, birth, wellbeing, and traditional birthing.

Compatibility requirement with existing item, technology or service. (Check box and describe compatibility requirement)

Renewal of support/maintenance/subscription of software, technology or other intellectual property. (Check box and describe)

Other Basis for Sole Source: Please describe below:

III. SUPPLEMENTAL DETAILS. PLEASE PROVIDE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AS

REQUESTED BELOW:

Describe in detail the unique capabilities of the proposed vendor’s goods/service and/or personnel performing the work and why this constitutes the only source. Focus on what is unique about the goods/service and why no other vendor could meet your needs.

Contracting with Transcending Strategies and leveraging the inherent knowledge, skills, and expertise from this community organization will contribute to Project ECHO’s mission to provide NM providers with timely knowledge to improve their practice and contribute to reducing the significant maternal and child health disparities faced by NM mothers especially those who are in the BIPOC, rural, and frontier communities.

Describe the due diligence made to locate other possible sources including communications with other universities, communications with similar providers, web searches, yellow page searches, review of advertisements and trade publications, etc.

Our Project ECHO team has conducted outreach to identify partners best suited with necessary level of expert knowledge in maternal and child health issues in NM and available to commit the time on an ongoing basis to contribute to advancing the goal of our ECHO program. Keeping in line with our ECHO value to serve the underserved and at-risk communities, the identification of Transcending Strategies provides ECHO with a pathway to a successful ECHO program and timely sharing of critical practice experience and knowledge of the maternal health challenges in New Mexico.

List the other vendors who were contacted. Please describe the specs/qualifications/criteria that the other vendors were unable to satisfy.