Procurement Compliance Bulletin 12.3.2020

Governor's Office of Small, Minority & Women Business Affairs

Procurement Compliance Bulletin

MD OPEN for Business

 

Inside this issue:

A Message From GOSBA
VSBE Program News
MBE Program News
SBR Program News
GOSBA Compliance Updates



12.3.2020


A Message from GOSBA 

Thank you procurement professionals for your diligence in making prompt payment a priority! The COVID-19 pandemic has hit small and minority, and veteran-owned businesses the hardest, making contract monitoring, including prompt payment, even more paramount during this time. Prompt payment to these vendors can make the difference between the business staying open or having to shut down.

The prime contractor has the responsibility to pay an MBE subcontractor any undisputed amount to which the subcontractor is entitled or notify the subcontractor, in writing, with the reason why payment is being withheld. If payment is withheld, the prime contractor must provide a copy of the notice to the procurement officer. The agency must notify GOSBA and keep us in communication until the payment issue has been resolved. 

While MBE directives explicitly require prompt payment of subcontractors, they seldom know when they can invoke their prompt payment rights. This is why the Governor's Office of Small, Minority & Women Business Affairs (GOSBA) stresses the need for vendors to stay in communication with the agency MBE Liaison from the beginning of their participation on a contract. We advise MBE subcontractors to contact the MBE Liaison directly when they have not been paid, and not to wait until months have passed.

Please continue to prioritize prompt payment in your contract compliance activities. Notice of payments being withheld from an MBE subcontractor should be provided in writing with the subject "Prompt Payment Issue" to GOSBA's Compliance mailbox compliance.gosba@maryland.gov.

 


VSBE Program Update

The 2020 Maryland General Assembly convened a Veteran-Owned Small Business Enterprise (VSBE) Work Group to look at the existing program and make recommendations for improvements. That report is being prepared by the Department of General Services and will be submitted before the end of the year. Legislators are actively looking at this program, but data on our statewide performance is lacking. Last fiscal year, only 33 of the 60 participating agencies submitted data. Seven agencies/departments exceeded the 1% goal, while 15 had no VSBE awards or payments.

Annual Reporting

This year, only 45 reports have been submitted. If you have not submitted your VSBE report for FY2020, please do so right away. The report should be submitted even if you are reporting no VSBE activity. 

We will be notifying agency/department heads that they will be listed as non-responsive if we do not receive this mandatory report.

VSBE Reporting Toolkit

Questions or issues should be directed to Nichelle Johnson, MBE Compliance Manager, at nichelle.johnson1@maryland.gov or 410-697-9605.

 


MBE Program

Reporting 

  • The FY2020 MBE Annual Report is now Past Due. We will be notifying agency/department heads that they will be listed as non-responsive if we do not receive this mandatory report.
  • The FY2021 First Quarter Report was due on October 30. Quarterly Reports are due no later than 30 days following the quarter/month being reported, and should contain data from the start of the fiscal year, July 1, 2020. 

The MBE Reporting Toolkit contains the current report templates and instructions. 

MBE Reporting Toolkit

Reports should be submitted via email in EXCEL FORMAT to: 
 MBEreports.gosba@maryland.gov


MBE questions or issues should be directed to Nichelle Johnson, MBE Compliance Manager, at   nichelle.johnson1@maryland.gov  or 410-697-9605.


SBR Program

New Policy & Procedures: SBR Designation of Statewide Contracts

GOSBA and the Office of State Procurement (OSP) jointly rolled out new policy and procedures for Small Business Reserve (SBR) designation of statewide procurements with multiple awards. 

Statewide procurements for goods, supplies, services, maintenance, construction, construction-related services, architectural services, and engineering services that result in multiple awards by jurisdiction or functional areas shall be eligible for designation for the SBR Program as long as the jurisdictions or functional areas are clearly separated, identified, and designated as SBR procurements within the single Statewide procurement solicitation.

This is another step toward being able to designate more SBR procurements, because the SBR Program clarifies that only payments resulting from designated SBR procurement contracts may be applied toward the unit's overall annual 15 % SBR payment achievement.

The details are located in both the "Policies and Procedures" section on the GOSBA website in the SBR toolkit and the OSP website. 


Reporting 

  • The FY2020 SBR Annual Report is now Past Due. We will be notifying agency/department heads that they will be listed as non-responsive if we do not receive this mandatory report.
  • The FY2021 First Quarter Report was due on October 30. Quarterly Reports are due no later than 30 days following the quarter/month being reported, and should contain data from the start of the fiscal year, July 1, 2020. 

The SBR Toolkit contains report templates and instructions. 

SBR Reporting Toolkit

Reports should be submitted to the sbrreports.gosba@maryland.gov email box.

SBR questions or issues should be directed to Lisa Mitchell Sennaar, SBR Compliance Manager,at  lisa.sennaar@maryland.gov or 410-508-8089.


Compliance & Policy Update


November Compliance
 Call

On November 12, 2020, GOSBA hosted our bi-monthly Compliance Call. Thank you to all of our participants and to those who submitted questions. We covered some very important topics that will help us ensure we remain compliant with state procurement regulations and policies. For those who were unable to join us, please click HERE to see the questions and responses in our Compliance Call Library. You may also access this document in the MBE and SBR Toolkits.

Upcoming January 7, 2021 Compliance Call

The purpose of this conference call is to address issues impacting the SBR, MBE, and VSBE procurement programs in an open and transparent forum. Topics on this call will include the new policy and procedures for SBR designation of statewide procurements with multiple awards. 

We would like to address specific questions that you, our Agency stakeholders, are asking. Please submit questions 14 days in advance (by December 24, 2020) to:
compliance.gosba@maryland.gov


To participate, please register using the link provided below. You will receive a Conference Call invitation with call in details. A link to questions and the answers provided during the call will be added to our website for those who were unable to join the call.

Thursday, January 7, 2021
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Via Google Hangouts Meet
Click the link below to register for the Compliance Call