How to Partner on a Public Health Consulting Contract (and Not Waste Your Time)

▶ Free Workshop: Public Health Consulting 101
Partnering on contracts is one of the fastest ways to go after bigger opportunities — but only if you do it right. Dr. Des is teaching a free live workshop — Public Health Consulting 101 — on June 16th AND June 17th. Come with your questions. Leave with a plan.
👉 Save your seat at https://www.publichealthclub.com/public-health-consulting-training

Resources Mentioned

Free Contract Partnership Playbook — Interview questions, MOU guidance, and everything you need to structure a consulting partnership. Free inside The Public Health Club at https://www.publichealthclub.com/

Six Figure Public Health Consultant Playbook — Workbook companion for the PHC Consulting 101 class. Free inside PHC at https://www.publichealthclub.com/

Public Health Consulting 101 — Free live workshop, June 16 + June 17. Register at https://www.publichealthclub.com/public-health-consulting-training

Subcontracting to Six Figures (S26F) — Open now for PHC members. General public doors open June 16th. https://www.publichealthclub.com/course


Partnering is one of the smartest moves you can make when going after a contract — but most people do it wrong. In Day 4 of Public Health Consulting Week, Dr. Des breaks down how to identify the right partner, why complementary skills matter more than shared ones, how to structure the relationship legally before a single dollar is awarded, and what needs to be in writing before anyone starts the work.

In This Episode, You'll Learn

Why you should look for complementary skills — not duplicate ones — in a partner
How to properly vet a potential partner before committing to a joint proposal
Why you should always apply under one business name (and what prime awardee vs. subcontractor means)
What a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is and when to use one
What needs to be in a formal contract once you've been awarded funds
Why project management experience is one of the most valuable assets a consultant can have

Timestamps
[00:00] Welcome to Day 4 — and why partnering is one of Dr. Des's favorite topics
[01:30] S26F update — open for PHC members today; general public June 16th
[03:00] The most common partnering mistake people make in the PHC community
[04:30] How to identify exactly what skills you need in a partner
[06:00] Complementary vs. duplicate skills — and why the difference matters
[07:30] How to vet a partner: Google Form + 30-minute interview
[09:30] Apply under one business name — prime awardee and subcontractor explained
[11:00] What an MOU is and why you need one before the award
[12:30] What to include in a formal contract once funds are awarded
[14:00] Payment terms, deliverables, and hour tracking — handle it upfront
[15:30] Free Contract Partnership Playbook + Six Figure Consultant Playbook inside PHC

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you find the right partner for a public health consulting contract?
Start by reviewing the RFP and identifying exactly what skills it requires that you don't already have. Then look specifically for someone who fills those gaps — not someone who does the same things you do. Post a specific ask, collect applications via a Google Form, and do a 30-minute interview before committing to anything.

Should two consultants apply under separate business names?
No. Apply under one business. The client will cut one check and work with one point of contact — two separate business names on a contract creates confusion and can hurt your chances. One person serves as the prime awardee; the other operates as a subcontractor underneath them. Decide who takes which role before you submit.

What is an MOU and do you need one when partnering on a contract?
An MOU — Memorandum of Understanding — is a legal document that outlines the terms of your partnership before any money changes hands. It has no financial obligation attached, but it establishes who is responsible for what. Once you're awarded the contract, follow it up with a formal subcontractor agreement that specifies payment amounts, timelines, deliverables, and how hours are tracked.

About The Dr. Des Show
The Dr. Des Show is the go-to podcast for public health career development, consulting, and entrepreneurship. Hosted by Dr. Desiree "Dr. Des" Strickland — DrPH, public health CEO, and founder of The Public Health Club.

https://www.drdesshow.com/

https://www.publichealthclub.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Day four of Public Health Consulting Week. Y'all listen, today is going to be one of my favorite topics, and we are talking about how to partner to go after a RFP, a proposal, whatever. We're talking about how to partner with your best friend, how to partner with um just you know anybody that you meet, especially like members of the public health club, because a lot of them are partnering together to win contracts, right? So if you watch some of my past uh podcast episodes and you know, like um Jamie and Prom Neat, that's an example I use a lot. They partner, they met and subcontracted in the six figures. They partnered together, they landed a $67,000 contract, right? Um, we have another episode that's gonna come up about some other members and how they partner together to land a contract as well. Y'all, money is out there, consistency and just continuing to go, that is how you you land this money. But I want to make sure as you're seeking out partners, you're thinking about partnering with people, you have a blueprint to identify good partners and really go from there. But before we dive all the way in, this is Public Health Consulting Week. If you have not signed up for Public Health Consulting 101, what are you doing? What are you doing? All right, for my club members, just go click the RSVP button, head over to the live events area and click the RSVP button and show up live. But there's two dates, June 16th and 17th. We're covering the same thing in both days. So if you can't make one, you can make the other, right? And then we have um subcontracting the six figures, y'all. My course where I'm gonna walk you through how to win contracts, where I've walked so many other hundreds of other students through, and they have landed five and six-figure contracts, four-figure contracts too, like you know, hey, an extra 5K. Listen, who would want an extra little 5k to do a little something something on the side, right? Like, who wouldn't want that, right? Though that is what we do in subcontract and the six figures, okay? So the doors officially open June 16th. But if you are a club member, if you are a club member, then today check your DMs. Check your DMs, check the community, all right. If you are new and you're like, oh, I wonder what she's talking about, go and go and sign up for the club. You you can get in on this too, all right? But I say that to say we have a special opening period for uh club members right now, and you get something special that nobody else is going to get as well as a club member right now if you sign up. So head on over to there. Um, today is Thursday, so that means it's officially open for our club members. Uh, but to the general public, subcontract and six figures will be open on June 16th, will be our lunch date. So sign up, y'all. Let's go. But all right, now let's talk about partnering with people. Number one, I always tell you all like, if you identify a contract and you're like, Dr. Des, I don't really have everything that they want. I always encourage you to, hey, go find somebody else that has part of what they want, the other part that you're missing, and partner with them, right? Now it sounds like very simple advice, and it is, but I want to make sure that I'm giving you all context behind this advice too, and making sure you have like the know-how. Don't just go out there and say, hey, anybody want to partner, which I see a lot of y'all do in the club, okay? Stop doing that. All right. I I'm not gonna say stop, but I'm gonna say change how you do it. Meaning that I want you to be very specific specific and particular about who you partner with and how you partner with them, okay? Because you can just partner with anybody, but I want you to make sure you know what exact skills that you need because you just go partner with somebody and none of y'all have the right skills, like y'all don't mesh well together, y'all are wasting each other's time. You are wasting time applying to this because you still don't have what they need, right? So I always recommend to go in on what they need. And what does that look like? That looks like you reviewing the RFP and you're saying, okay, this is an RFP. They want someone to do focus groups, but they want someone to do focus groups um that's around like healthy eating and nutrition, right? Just saying something like that, right? Now, you may have all the focus group experience in the world, but you may not have any healthy eating and nutrition experience, which you probably could still apply without that exact experience, but you know what would make your application even stronger, having someone with direct experience and healthy, healthy eating and nutrition, right? Not somebody that can just do the same thing as you, right? And granted, if you're looking at the scope and it's looking like it's gonna be a lot of time spent on this contract, then that's when you can say, okay, I'm gonna need an extra like focus group facilitator. I'm gonna need, you know, something else. That's when you can kind of get people with duplicative skills. But if you're looking at it and you're like, hey, me and me and one other person can tackle this, make sure that other person has complimentary skills of yours, okay? Because that is where I see a lot of people going wrong, is you don't get somebody that has complimentary skills. It's amazing to want to partner with your friends and everything, but we got to really look at our expertise. And if not, you're gonna be spinning your wheels and wasting your time writing a contract that you were never gonna win, right? Number next thing that you do when you try to partner with somebody, always interview them, okay? Because number one, if you partner with somebody, the standard that I always tell people do not go in and um have like two different businesses, like business names on the contract, like, oh, my business and their business are partnered up. No, don't do that. Under you go in, you apply under one business. Because if you're doing that, y'all might as well apply separately, right? You apply under one business, and that makes the financials clean as well, too, because that company is only gonna want to pay one business. They're not gonna pay two businesses too separate, they're not doing that. So you will have a better chance if you go under one person's company. What that means is that one person will be essentially the prime awardee of the contract, and the other person will be a subcontractor underneath that. Decide on who that will be and what that will look like before you go into this relationship with them. But interview these people, okay? So if you say you you're in, let's say you're in a public health club, you're scrolling, you see a lovely contract that you like, and you're like, oh yeah, I'm gonna apply to this one. And you're like, all right, I need somebody with these this XYZ skills. About three people respond to you, hey, I can do that. Can we meet up? And y'all, y'all love to be in some DMs. Y'all, I can't see your DMs. Just like why I can't see your DMs, but I see like the count of how many like people like DMing. I can't see names or anything like that. But I see how many like DMs get exchanged. But I know that the DMs is where magic is happening in the public health club. People are um partnering with each other and doing all these things in there, right? But I will say, like, give them a create a Google form. Google forms are free for you to create. Create a Google form application where you collect their name, their email address, some references, their resume. Maybe ask them a question or two. Don't make it too long. Maybe ask them a question or two about their style and how they do evaluation, something like that. So you can get a sense of who they are and have a 30-minute chat with them to see if they're a good fit for the contract and for what you're trying to do. Don't just, oh yeah, we they said they could do it. No, unless you like really like know the person, like you've seen their work, you see what they do, and you can trust them. No. Interview these people, okay? And for our free resource today, we got a contract partnership playbook where I literally have all the questions in there that you need to ask people, um, literally everything that you need to do um to really get started in contracting with someone and to identify a good partner. So, club members, go ahead and download it. If you are not in the public health club and you want that guide, along with all the other one free resources that I've been giving you for consulting this week, join the public health club. Stop playing. So why are you playing? Why are you playing? But in all seriousness, though, um, those are things that you want to do. Also, now I will say you don't necessarily have to do this, but if you're partnering with somebody you don't know and you just met, um, even if somebody you know, I always like to do an MOU, right? Do a little MOU in the beginning. And an MOU, for those that understand, don't know, a MOU is a memorandum of understanding. It's like a contract, but there's no financial obligation tied to it, right? It's just uh it's a legal document, but it's no it's no financial obligation tied to memorandums of understanding, okay? And basically it's just talking about like what this partnership looks like. You know, Strickland Health Consulting will be the prime awardee. So you will be a subcontractor under Strickland Health Consultant. Um, this is no funds are being exchanged, um, you know, right now because we haven't been awarded anything, yada yada yada. But this is what our little partnership to apply for this um RFP will look like, right? Develop that in that contract partnership playbook. I have a guide for everything that needs to be on that, okay? Um, also, then when you actually get awarded the funds, you need to give them a contract under your business name. Your business needs to contract with them, give them a formal contract that outlines how much they're getting paid, how they're getting paid, and oh, make sure you handle payment in the beginning stages, right? Like, because so you understand, like if you apply for this $150,000 contract and you get it, they know how much they're gonna be paid, they know when they're gonna be paid, they know how often. Are they deliverable-based? Are you paying them per hour? What does that look like? How are you keeping track of their hours, right? Because some people will inflate them hours. What does that look like, right? So we gotta put on our project management hat. That's why, like, I feel like the number one skill I always tell people like if you want to be in the consultant space, like get like a project management background. Just because as a business owner, I feel like the project management hat is one I've had to have. Like, I'm so grateful. I'm not a PM, I don't have a PMP, but I'm have been a project manager before. Um, and I'm so grateful for that experience because managing contracts and literally, you know, now I think about it, a lot of my career has prepared me for this because I was a certified contract manager in my first job. They made me do it. I hated contracts, but now I'm like, since I since I gotta manage my own contracts, like it came in handy, y'all. It came in handy. I had never thought about this certified contract manager, I forgot all about that, but that is something that I want you all to think about, right? Making sure you got a contract that really outlines all the details of the um relationship, right? Because it is very easy for someone to come and say, Oh, well, we said this and now I want this, and this isn't aligning and da-da-da-da. And you don't have a contract in place, so now somebody taking somebody to court. Have a contract in place and follow the contract, okay? Um, in that contract partner, in that um partnership playbook that I got for you all, um, it'll outline some of the things that you need to think about including in the contract as well, and what that looks like. But yes, y'all, I've given y'all a lot of tips, a lot of game today. Here's the thing I want you to use it. I want you to come to Public Up Association 101 ready. I want you to come ready to know what that next step is. I want you to come with any questions that you have because I am there with y'all for an hour and a half. I may stay a little bit over each day. I'm there and we live and we rocking and rolling, and it's gonna be a good time. But I want to make sure that you leave with all of your questions answered. And I guarantee you, through the curriculum that we got, like you're gonna leave with everything that you need and more, right? And also, like, um, if you do want the workbook for the um for the public health consultant one-on-one class that we have, the six-figure public health consultant uh playbook is also in the resources area inside the public health club for you to download. So if you have not joined, y'all, literally, the tools are there, the resources are there, they're just waiting on you. You know, there are people with half your talent making serious moves while you are still waiting to feel ready. I'll just drop that there for you all, okay? And also, don't forget, subcontract and six figures opens up officially for the general public next week. But for my club members, it's open today for you, and you get a little special some, something nobody else gets. So check it out inside the community. And all right, I'm gonna talk to y'all tomorrow. Tomorrow is our last day, day five, y'all. Listen. Hope y'all have been enjoying public health consulting week because it's been a time. It's been a time. Please comment below. Let me know your thoughts. Let me know if you have questions. I got you. All right, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye.