Government and Public Sector
Governance reviews and performance diagnostics for public entities.
State agencies, counties, municipalities, school districts, public colleges, health departments, and the boards and commissions that govern them are examined the same way any organization is, through the governing documents and performance data, and through the accounts of the people doing the work. iB Consulting USA is a registered federal and State of Nebraska contractor and an SBA certified Woman Owned Small Business, and every engagement is a fixed fee set at award.
The three services below are the same examinations offered to boards and operating companies, described here in the terms a procurement officer and an agency head need.
Each engagement helps an agency, commission, or public authority see how it is governed and how it performs, with findings a leadership team can act on and a record an oversight body can read.
Who this is for
Agency heads, department directors, elected and appointed boards, commissions, authorities, and public colleges that want an independent, evidence based reading of how they govern and how they perform, ahead of an audit, a leadership change, a reorganization, or a strategic plan, while there is the most room to act on it.
What the firm provides
Governance review, the Governance Health Check elsewhere on this site. Three weeks. An independent assessor reads the enabling statute or charter, bylaws, policies, and twelve months of agendas and minutes, gathers an anonymous survey of the governing body, and briefs the full body on where written authority and practice differ. Fixed fee of $4,500. Process evaluation and performance measurement, and strategic planning facilitation and briefings, are scoped the same way, with a fixed fee and timeline set before award.
Organizational diagnostic. A department diagnostic in about 45 days ($9,500) or an agency wide diagnostic in 60 to 90 days ($18,000), measured against the Baldrige Excellence Framework across leadership, strategy, customers, measurement, workforce, operations, and results. Findings tied to evidence, a roadmap with a named owner for each item, and a briefing for leadership.
Performance improvement advisory. Retained advisory to an agency head, board, or commission through a defined improvement period, from $3,000 per month. Expedited delivery is available for any engagement at a 25 percent premium.
Community Development Block Grants
Mel K Meier, DBA is a CDBG Certified Administrator with the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. Villages, cities, and counties can engage the firm for CDBG grant administration, application support, and project planning.
How procurement works
Registered in SAM.gov, UEI HK53V4DXAXL9, CAGE 8HFJ5. NAICS 541611, 541612, 541618, 541690, and 611430. SBA certified Woman Owned Small Business, eligible for WOSB set aside awards under 13 CFR 127 in its NAICS codes, and for sole source awards where the contracting officer’s conditions under 13 CFR 127.503 are met. Registered contractor with the State of Nebraska. Certified Woman Business Enterprise, State of Tennessee (Governor’s Office of Business Initiatives and Development, formerly Go-DBE). Fixed fee engagements are sized to fit the simplified acquisition threshold, and the two smaller engagements fit the federal micro purchase threshold; state and local entities can engage by purchase order or professional services agreement under their own thresholds. Work starts within two weeks of award, the firm is available as a prime or a subcontractor, and every quote carries prompt payment discount terms. Certificates of insurance are available on request.
Download the capability statement (PDF)
Examination and assessment record
Examination of state agencies, including employee and stakeholder outreach, under a state performance excellence program built on the Baldrige framework, with applicant identities held in confidence. Governance assessment of a national member organization with a volunteer board and a federated structure. Examination work since 2007 spans state and government agencies, health departments, hospitals, colleges, energy, finance, real estate, member associations, nonprofits, and operating companies. Client identities are withheld as a condition of all assessment work; references are available in a format the client has approved.
How the work is set up
Conducted personally by Mel K Meier, DBA, who has examined more than 50 organizations under the Baldrige framework since 2007, independently and through multiple examiner cycles with the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence, and was appointed Master Examiner in 2023. A confidentiality agreement, or the agency’s own NDA, is signed before any document is shared. Survey responses are reported only in aggregate, interview comments are not attributed, and no finding names an individual. The report belongs to the entity, and the firm sells advisory work only. Interviews and briefings are held in person or by video, with travel billed at cost when required.
Start with a conversation or the capability statement
Fifteen minutes by phone or video about your entity and the question in front of it. If the work makes sense, you receive a one page scope, a fixed fee, and the procurement paperwork your office needs the same week. There is no obligation.
Questions procurement officers ask
Can we award this without a competitive solicitation?
Often, yes. The Governance Health Check and the department diagnostic fall under the federal micro purchase threshold, and every engagement falls under the simplified acquisition threshold. The firm is an SBA certified Woman Owned Small Business, eligible for WOSB set aside awards and, where the contracting officer’s conditions under 13 CFR 127.503 are met, sole source awards. Your procurement rules govern; the firm supplies the registrations and certificates your file requires.
What does the entity have to provide?
Existing documents only, meaning the charter or enabling statute, bylaws, policies, agendas and minutes, and for a diagnostic the operating plan and performance data the entity already keeps. Leaders give one structured interview each. Staff complete a short anonymous survey. No new reports or data are built for the engagement.
Is this an audit?
No. An audit tests compliance and financial controls. This work examines how the entity is governed and how it performs against a recognized framework, and it is designed to run ahead of the audit cycle, when what it finds can do the most good. It complements the audit function and does not replace it.
Who does the work and who sees the report?
Mel K Meier, DBA conducts every engagement personally. The report goes to the official or body that commissioned it. Public records obligations are the entity’s to determine, and the report is written so that no finding names an individual.