Lt. Governor Boyd K. Rutherford, Hogan Administration Tout Legislation to Modernize Streamline State Procurement System Legislation Passed This Session Will Ensure Best Value for Maryland Taxpayers

Lt. Governor Boyd K. Rutherford today highlighted legislation passed during the 2017 Maryland General Assembly legislative session that will modernize and streamline the state’s procurement system with standardized best practices, policies, and procedures that are more uniform, transparent, and equitable. Lt. Governor Rutherford was appointed chair of the state’s Commission to Modernize State Procurement by Governor Larry Hogan in February 2016. The commission released its final report in December. Recommendations from the commission were enacted into law via three administration bills and three privately sponsored bills, the majority of which were signed by the governor on Thursday, May 25, 2017.

Secretary Churchill (left, back row) and Assistant Secretary for Procurement & Logistics (far right, standing) joined Lt. Governor Rutherford for the procurement reform bill signings.

“Creating a more centralized procurement system that ensures the efficient use of resources and produces a more consistent implementation of procurement law, regulation, policy, practice

and procedure is an important part of making state government more transparent and changing Maryland for the better,” said Lt. Governor Rutherford. “I would like to thank the legislature for collaborating with our administration on this important issue.”

Highlights of the new laws include the consolidation of all non-transportation executive branch procurement into the Department of General Services; raising the Small Business Reserve Program goal and making it applicable to all state agencies; raising the small procurement dollar threshold; repealing the statutory preference for competitive sealed bidding; and refining the conditions upon which an agency can use an intergovernmental cooperative purchasing agreement, among many others.

The procurement reform legislation signed into law by Governor Hogan include the following administration bills:

• HB433/SB309: State Finance and Procurement – Small and Minority Business Participation: Signed by Governor Hogan on May 2, 2017, this law increases small and minority business participation in state procurement by making the Small Business Reserve program applicable to all procuring agencies, raises the Small Business Reserve requirement of each agency by 50%, and requires that only 60% of the costs of an MBE’s supplies/materials can be applied to achieving an MBE contract goal in order to encourage more meaningful participation of MBEs on state contracts.

• HB426/SB311: Promoting Efficiencies in State Procurement: Streamlines the procurement process by raising the small procurement threshold to $50,000 generally and to $100,000 for construction projects, provides procurement officers discretion on which procurement method to use, and authorizes master contracting for control agencies.

• HB390/SB310: Improving the State Procurement Oversight Structure: Provides the ability to appeal a contract claim after 180 days of inaction and raises the threshold for disclosure to the Secretary of State’s office.

As well as the following privately sponsored bills supported by the administration:

• HB1021 (Del. Reznik): Reorganization of State Procurement: Consolidates all non-transportation executive branch procurement into the Department of General Services and creates the Chief Procurement Officer position, who is the head of all procurement activity for the Executive Branch, and requires studying the feasibility of the Office of the Attorney General to represent all state procuring units at the State Board of Contract Appeals.

• HB1107 (Del. Rosenberg): Procurement – Intergovernmental Cooperative Purchasing Agreements: Requires a primary procurement unit to make a determination before it initially sponsors, participates in, renews, or modifies an intergovernmental cooperative purchasing agreement and to post the determination on the unit’s website.

• HB1446 (Del. Hayes): Procurement Preferences – Blind Industries and Services of Maryland – Janitorial Products: Requires prime contractors on a state contract that includes housekeeping or janitorial services to procure janitorial products from Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (BISM) only if the products are made, manufactured, remanufactured, or assembled by BISM and are available.

Please click the following link to to see the original press release on the Lt. Governor’s webpage: http://governor.maryland.gov/ltgovernor/2017/05/25/lt-governor-boyd-k-rutherford-hogan-administration-tout-legislation-to-modernize-streamline-state-procurement-system/