Procurement Compliance Bulletin 01.17.2023

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

Procurement Compliance Bulletin

01.17.2023

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A New Beginning!

2023

Entering a new year brings upon a lot of reflection. Many of us will be reflecting on last year's achievements, failures, the good times and the bad. It encourages us to look forward to the promise of a new year, a new beginning. For the State of Maryland, we have plenty to look forward to with a new administration on the horizon, it will bring a new perspective to our current approaches. We encourage you all to reflect on your agencies current approach to the Socioeconomic Programs. Whether you are a SBR, MBE, or VSBE Liaison, consider what could improve within the space. Consider asking yourselves the following questions to reflect and bring in the new year with a fresh new outlook! 

  • Are we providing small and large procurement opportunities to SBR, MBE and VSBE vendors? 
  • Are we being proactive and responsive to our SBR, MBE and VSBE vendors?
  • How can my agency better service these vendor communities?
  • What improvements can we make?
  • Are we meeting our quarterly/annual reporting deadlines throughout the fiscal year?

NEW Compliance Requirement

A new requirement has been added to the MBE Annual Report submission your agency/department is required to provide to the Governor's Office of Small, Minority & Women Business Affairs. An MBE compliance assessment is now required for all contracts which close out during the fiscal year. This will verify if MBE contract goals are being met. This new requirement will take effect with your FY2023 filing (due 9/30/2023).

This is a very data intensive report and requires manual data entry. You are highly encouraged to review the new reporting document to ensure a full understanding of data requirements. We will be addressing the [Insert the full name here] during the February 9,2023 virtual Liaison Training Session. Please plan to attend. In the mean time, feel free to contact your designated MBE Compliance Manager if you have any questions.

 

Please take a moment and download the new
Annual Agency MBE Compliance Assessment  Report

FY2023 Annual Agency MBE Compliance Assessment Report 

 


February 9, 2023 Combined (Virtual) Liaison Training

GOSBA is hosting the first 2023 liaison training virtually on February 9, 2023. A calendar invitation has been sent out. If you have not received the invite and would like to attend the training session, please reach out to our office to be added to the list.

Topics will include:

  • Pulling/Scrubbing backup data from ANSWERS
  • Submission of iFMIS and other internal reporting documents
  • Formatting backup data for submission
  • Backup data examples
  • New MBE reporting requirement:  Annual Agency MBE Compliance Assessment Report

For questions or to receive an invite, please email lisa.sennaar@maryland.gov or nichelle.johnson1@maryland.gov.

If you do not wish to attend the upcoming meeting, simply decline the meeting invitation


MBE Program

FY2023 Quarterly Reporting

FY2023 2nd Quarter MBE Reports due January 30, 2023

The deadline for submitting 2nd quarter reports is just around the corner Submitting this report will help your agency assess its performance at the mid-year mark, which will prepare you for a strong 3rd and 4th Quarter. In addition, since quarterly reports are cumulative, when the time comes to complete your Annual Report, a portion of your work will already be complete.

Quarterly Report instructions and templates are available in the MBE Reporting Toolkit.  

If you have questions pertaining to the 2nd Quarter MBE Report, feel free to submit them via email and/or contact us to schedule a meeting. 

Nichelle Johnson at nichelle.johnson1@maryland.gov or
Karen Reyes at karen.reyes@maryland.gov


SBR Program 

FY2023 Quarterly Reporting

FY2023 1st Quarter SBR Reports (past due)

Thank you to the SBR agencies/departments that have submitted their FY2023 1st Quarter SBR Reports!

 

FY2023 2nd Quarter Reports due January 30, 2023

SBR Quarterly report data is cumulative. The Second Quarter report covers July 1, 2022 - December 31, 2022 and is due no later than 30 days following the quarter being reported. Quarterly Report instructions and templates are available in the SBR Reporting Toolkit. 

The submission of the 2nd Quarter SBR Report is very important. Submitting this report will help your agency assess its performance at the mid-year mark, which will prepare you for a strong 3rd and 4th Quarter. In addition, since quarterly reports are cumulative, when the time comes to complete your Annual Report, a portion of your work will already be completed.

Note: We are being directed to forward emails to agency heads/ liaisons regarding those who are not submitting the 2nd Quarter Reports (in particular those who are not reaching the 15% mandated SBR Designated spend). Please be certain to submit these reports to avoid receiving this notification. 

If you have any questions pertaining to the Quarterly SBR Report(s), feel free to submit them via email and/or contact us to schedule a meeting. 

Lisa Mitchell Sennaar at lisa.sennaar@maryland.gov or
Tanita Johnson at tanita.johnson1@maryland.gov


VSBE Program

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Takes Over VetBiz

As of January 1, 2023, the veteran verification process at the federal level (VetBiz), has moved to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The program is now called VetCert.

Effective immediately, this is your new home to search federally certified veteran small businesses. Make sure to bookmark this new website change to https://veterans.certify.sba.gov/

 

New VSBE Outreach Form Coming Soon!

A new reporting requirement will take effect with the FY2023 reporting period. Per COMAR 21.11.14.06, each VSBE participating agency must report their outreach efforts to VSBE prime and VSBE subcontracts over the fiscal year. GOSBA is developing the new form now and will share it with VSBE Liaisons in the near future.  

Confirmation of VSBE Program Certification

eMMA is the exclusive platform to use when verifying that a veteran vendor is certified in the state’s VSBE Program (the “VSBE Certification #” field must be populated and the “VSBE Expiration Date” must be valid). Please make sure you have verified that all VSBE's on current contracts are certified in eMMA. Failure to do so, will result in your agency having to manually extract that data from your FY2023 reports, as no awards or payments can be counted toward VSBE contract goals by veteran firms not in the VSBE Program.

If you have any questions or concerns when verifying VSBE Program certification,
please call or email Danielle Davis at danielle.davis2@maryland.gov.


Quarterly Compliance Call 

The next Compliance Call is scheduled for April 13, 2023 from 10 am  to 12 noon. A calendar invite will be sent soon.

GOSBA hosts a compliance call each quarter to address issues impacting how the SBR, MBE, and VSBE procurement programs are implemented by participating state agencies and departments. Topics for discussion come from you, our liaisons and procurement officers. We discuss them in an open and transparent forum so we can all learn from one another. 

If you have suggested topics to be covered in our April 2023 call, please email them no later than March 30th to compliance.gosba@maryland.gov.

If you missed our December call, please find a summary of the topics covered HERE, in the latest Compliance Library. You may also find it in the SBRMBE or VSBE Reporting Toolkits.

For questions about the compliance call, please email lisa.sennaar@maryland.gov or nichelle.johnson1@maryland.gov.

If you do not wish to attend any upcoming meetings, simply decline the meeting invitation.


Ahead in 2023...

SAVE THESE DATES:

SBR/MBE/VSBE Liaison Trainings: 
May 4, 2023 (virtual)

Quarterly Compliance Calls:
June 1, 2023