Baltimore County Executive and MACo President Kevin Kamenetz signed an executive order today aimed at streamlining county procurement processes and helping small, minority and women-owned businesses compete for professional services and construction contracts.
The Open For Business Initiative:
- streamlines the prequalification process to reduce application processing time by one-third, to 30 days;
- creates the Small Business Purchasing Program, a tier-based system allowing small firms to bid as prime contractors; and
- allows minority business enterprises and women business enterprises to permit self-performance in meeting 50% of subcontracting goals.
Said County Executive Kamenetz:
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.
The county is hosting a networking reception and procurement workshop this evening, at George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Towson. The reception begins at 4 p.m., followed by a 5 p.m. program and break-out sessions by project category. The workshop is designed for contractors, offering them the opportunity to learn about the prequalification process, potential contracting opportunities, surety bonding requirements, and more.
