Baltimore County Executive Streamlines Procurement Process

From Baltimore Co.: Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced a streamlining of the County procurement processes that will increase competitive bids and help smaller firms — especially minority and women-owned businesses — to have the opportunity to bid on County contracts for professional services and construction trades.

“We realized that the County’s contracting opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses weren’t as accessible as they could be for growing businesses, so we did a top to bottom review of the whole process and have made changes that expand opportunities for minority and women-owned firms, and others who may be new to the government contracting arena,” said Kamenetz. Changes to the County’s “Open for Business Initiative” include a streamlining of the prequalification process that reduces application processing time from 90 days to 30 days. Kamenetz also created a Small Business Purchasing Program that establishes a tier-based system that will provide opportunities for small firms to bid as prime contractors. The changes to the Executive Order for Minority Business Enterprise/Women Business Enterprise will now permit self-performance in meeting 50% of subcontracting goals.

Kamenetz spoke at a procurement workshop this week, providing details and updates on the County’s procurement process. The event, which took place at George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Towson, featured a networking reception, program and break-out sessions by project category. The workshop was designed for contractors, offering them the opportunity to learn about the prequalification process, potential contracting opportunities, surety bonding requirements and more.

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