Agency Human Services Dept

Contractor Shepherd Data Services

SWIFT Contract Number 203566

Project Name doc review / Generic Pharma

Project Number (if applicable) {Empty}

Summarize purpose of the contract, including why it was necessary: To provide document review services in In re Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation.

Project Duration

Start Date Fri, 10/01/2021 - 00:00

Original end date Thu, 08/31/2023 - 00:00

Actual end date Thu, 08/31/2023 - 00:00

Did project finish on time? Yes

Total billable hours utilized (if applicable) {Empty}

Contract Amounts

Original contract: $75000

Amendments $41500

Contract total $116500

Did project finish within budget? Yes

What was the funding source? DHS Health Care Administration program budget.

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 Alexandra McDonough

Evaluator Email Address alexandra.mcdonough@state.mn.us

Evaluate the contractor's timeliness The project was to review approximately 38,000 documents. The vendor anticipated that they could complete the review within 45 days of project inception. The reviewers began on January 3, 2022. When the vendor needed additional funds to address production costs, the vendor updated the estimated deadline to March 31, 2022. However, the review was not completed until April 20, 2022. It ultimately took the vendor three months to review 38,000 documents, which was significantly longer than the original estimate and disappointing. Further, this project did not require the reviewers to review for responsiveness, so should have been much more straightforward.

Evaluate the contractor's quality DHS acknowledges that there were many large spreadsheets in this review, and that the subject matter is complex. However, the number of errors in the review on even straightforward documents was unacceptable. The frequency of errors combined with the vendor's underestimation on review time resulted in a DHS staff attorney spending hundreds of hours performing a quality control review as part of the project team. The vendor also required DHS to review any spreadsheet over a certain size. This was while the project manager was cutting reviewers to stay within budget and relying instead on additional DHS staff time.

Evaluate the contractor's cost Over $116,000 to review 38,000 emails seemed very high, especially given the quality of the review. DHS was not expecting production costs to nearly double the cost of the project and was disappointed when the funds for the production were eaten up by underestimated review time. The vendor had asked for an additional $4650 to complete the review, but DHS indicated we would not be securing an additional work order and requested that the vendor complete the work for the amount they had estimated. The vendor did ultimately agree to cover some of the production costs so work could continue.

Evaluate the contractor's overall performance While the project was ultimately completed, the additional requests for funds and project delays combined with the need to devote internal employee resources to this project was unsatisfactory.

Would you engage the contractor's services again? No

Describe any negative action taken during the duration of this contract (i.e., termination, pursuit of suspension, etc.): {Empty}

Please rate the overall experience with the contractor 1 - very dissatisfied