diff --git a/llama_stack/providers/remote/safety/nvidia/nvidia.py b/llama_stack/providers/remote/safety/nvidia/nvidia.py
index 2a6bbeaff..13bc212a1 100644
--- a/llama_stack/providers/remote/safety/nvidia/nvidia.py
+++ b/llama_stack/providers/remote/safety/nvidia/nvidia.py
@@ -126,10 +126,10 @@ class NeMoGuardrails:
         Raises:
             requests.HTTPError: If the POST request fails.
         """
-        messages = [await convert_message_to_openai_dict_new(message) for message in messages]
+        request_messages = [await convert_message_to_openai_dict_new(message) for message in messages]
         request_data = {
             "model": self.model,
-            "messages": messages,
+            "messages": request_messages,
             "temperature": self.temperature,
             "top_p": 1,
             "frequency_penalty": 0,
diff --git a/tests/unit/providers/nvidia/test_safety.py b/tests/unit/providers/nvidia/test_safety.py
index e7e1cb3dc..a237c56b0 100644
--- a/tests/unit/providers/nvidia/test_safety.py
+++ b/tests/unit/providers/nvidia/test_safety.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 # This source code is licensed under the terms described in the LICENSE file in
 # the root directory of this source tree.
 
-import json
 import os
 import unittest
 from typing import Any
@@ -139,8 +138,8 @@ class TestNVIDIASafetyAdapter(unittest.TestCase):
             data={
                 "model": shield_id,
                 "messages": [
-                    json.loads(messages[0].model_dump_json()),
-                    json.loads(messages[1].model_dump_json()),
+                    {"role": "user", "content": "Hello, how are you?"},
+                    {"role": "assistant", "content": "I'm doing well, thank you for asking!", "tool_calls": None},
                 ],
                 "temperature": 1.0,
                 "top_p": 1,
@@ -193,8 +192,8 @@ class TestNVIDIASafetyAdapter(unittest.TestCase):
             data={
                 "model": shield_id,
                 "messages": [
-                    json.loads(messages[0].model_dump_json()),
-                    json.loads(messages[1].model_dump_json()),
+                    {"role": "user", "content": "Hello, how are you?"},
+                    {"role": "assistant", "content": "I'm doing well, thank you for asking!", "tool_calls": None},
                 ],
                 "temperature": 1.0,
                 "top_p": 1,
@@ -269,8 +268,8 @@ class TestNVIDIASafetyAdapter(unittest.TestCase):
             data={
                 "model": shield_id,
                 "messages": [
-                    json.loads(messages[0].model_dump_json()),
-                    json.loads(messages[1].model_dump_json()),
+                    {"role": "user", "content": "Hello, how are you?"},
+                    {"role": "assistant", "content": "I'm doing well, thank you for asking!", "tool_calls": None},
                 ],
                 "temperature": 1.0,
                 "top_p": 1,