?“Ensuring that Maryland’s procurement process is efficient, fair, accessible, and transparent is crucial to our efforts to rebuild state government,” said Gov. Moore. “This executive order will deliver significant improvements to our process flows and procurement infrastructure, which will benefit our state agencies, contractors doing business with the state, and Maryland taxpayers.”

Over the past year, the Office of State Procurement within the Department of General Services has conducted significant stakeholder engagement with the goal of identifying the most significant drivers of inefficiencies, delays, and challenges within the state procurement system. 

In total, the department consulted 238 stakeholder groups and teams, including members and staff of the Board of Public Works; procurement officers from 86 state agencies; 136 socioeconomic business advocacy groups; 12 entities representing the Maryland vendor community; and external partners such as the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, Drexel University’s Nowak Metro Finance Lab, and the National Association of State Procurement Officials.

“I am proud to celebrate the signing of this landmark executive order, which outlines bold initiatives that redefine how we do business and prioritizes transparency, efficiency, and equity to ensure that every taxpayer dollar works harder for our communities,” said State Chief Procurement Officer Wallace D. Sermons, II. “This is not just about modernizing processes; it’s about creating opportunities, fostering innovation, and building a procurement system that reflects the Moore-Miller Administration’s values.”

The executive order includes the following:

- Authorizes comprehensive contract management process and technology improvements.
- Expands participation for small and socially economically disadvantaged-owned business programs in state procurement.
- Strengthens compliance measures with Minority Business Enterprise and Veteran-owned Small Business Enterprise contractual goals.
- Increases accountability measures for prime contractors who persistently fail to achieve socioeconomic contract goals.
- Authorizes the Governor’s Office of Small, Minority, and Women Business Affairs to set appropriate agency-level socioeconomic procurement goals.
- Establishes a governor’s subcabinet on socioeconomic procurement participation to promote greater interagency alignment on strategies and best practices to expand access for small and socioeconomic businesses.
- Increases competition in the Maryland procurement marketplace.
- Improves market research process to ensure competitive pricing.
- Reduces procurement timelines to ensure that mission requirements are procured more efficiently.
- Strengthens Maryland’s procurement workforce and talent pipeline in state government.
- Affirms state government’s commitment to utilize Maryland’s historically black colleges and universities to comply with the state’s 5% goal for utilizing Historically Black Colleges and Universities for interagency agreements.According to a report issued by the Comptroller of Maryland in June, Maryland’s procurement economy accounts for at least 17.5% of the state’s Gross Domestic Product, with at least $68 billion in contracts awarded to Maryland-based businesses from federal, state, and local agencies. In calendar year 2024, the Board of Public Works reviewed and approved more than $14.4 billion in new contract awards, renewal options, modifications, and extensions.

Procurement contract awards to certified minority or disadvantaged business enterprise firms in calendar year 2024 totaled $1.6 billion, representing an increase of $168 million from calendar year 2023. More than $2.7 billion in contract awards have been awarded to certified minority or disadvantaged businesses since the Moore-Miller Administration took office. 

Of the 1,226 procurement items that came before the BPW, 79% had Minority Business Enterprise or federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise participation goals. This is a sharp increase compared to previous years, with 64% in calendar year 2023 and 38% in calendar year 2022.

The executive order is available here.