General Reporting Compliance

Strategic Plan Due June 30, 2024:

This strategic plan is where agencies will share strategies, tactics and measures that have been put in place in an effort to achieve the legislatively mandated 29% MBE and 1% VSBE goals and the 15 % SBR mandated designated spend. The updated fillable google form is available in the MBE, VSBE and SBR Toolkits. Agencies should submit 1 Strategic Plan for all three programs. 

Procurement Forecast Due June 30, 2024:

Starting with FY2025, the forecast will now include recurring contracts that had VSBE goals. All agencies are required to submit one report with all projected purchases over $50,000 including SBR designated procurements and those with MBE and VSBE goals-- no later than June 30, 2024. You can obtain the Procurement Forecast Instructions and Template by visiting the SBR, MBE, and VSBE Toolkit. Be sure to give this report the proper attention by following the instructions and being thorough with your responses.

The submission should include:

• A detailed FY2025 Procurement Forecast excel spreadsheet (It is necessary to have this document within the Excel Spreadsheet form, as it is transferred into a database) 
• Signed attestation in the PDF format 
• Submit to the compliance.gosba@maryland.gov email box

ANSWERS Data Issues:

We have been made aware about issues with the 721 Credit Card report pulled from ANSWERS. This issue is stemming from the credit card company that the state is utilizing to compile this data. As of right now, DoIT does not have a resolution but are working diligently to resolve this matter. Other data issues, have been brought to our attention as well. So we want to be sure to keep a track of what issues are arises to be sure DoIT can resolve them to not delay submission of the annual report due on September 31.

This reporting season when data issues do arise be sure to follow the following procedure:

• Submit a service desk ticket to DoIT (service.desk@maryland.gov) explaining the issue and cc Jim Roman (jim.roman@maryland.gov) as well as your designated Compliance Manager for the program you are experiencing data issues for. 
• SBR Program Managers: Lisa Mitchell Sennaar (lisa.sennaar@maryland.gov) Tanita Johnson (tanita.johnson1@maryland.gov) 
• VSBE Compliance Manager: Danielle Davis (danielle.davis2@maryland.gov)
• MBE Compliance Manager: Karen Reyes (karen.reyes@maryland.gov)

MBE Compliance

MBE Contract Activity Update:

As previously announced on May 9 training, MBE will have new data requirements for FY25 QTR reports which will include the collection of Procurement Contract Activity.  Initially, it was announced that Procurement Solicitations, Contract Awards, Renewals, and Modifications would be the data points required.

After further consideration, we will be pulling back the procurement solicitation data point. The only required data points for this new QTR report will be:

• Contract awards
• Renewals
• Modifications

This report will follow the same deadlines for QTR 1, 2, and 3 except QTR 4 will not be due until October 15, 2025.

MBE Participation Attainment Survey will be made available July 1, 2024: 

The House Appropriations Committee has mandated an additional round of surveys in 2024 to address ongoing concerns about attainment of MBE goals, liaison vacancies, and the liaison's role within each agency. The Agency MBE Participation Attainment and Agency Liaison surveys are being conducted by the Governor's Office of Small, Minority & Women Business Affairs in collaboration with the Department of General Services, Office of State Procurement. A report is due to the Committee in December.

The MBE Participation Attainment Survey will launch by July 1, 2024 and is due by October 31, 2024. For this first round of surveys you will be required to provide your units FY24 final MBE Annual Report numbers. Extensions will not be granted for this survey.  The Liaison Survey is expected to launch in November. More details to come.

VSBE Compliance

VSBE New Reporting Requirements:

For this fiscal year 2024 VSBE Reporting, there are changes to the Annual template data collection and updates to the Annual VSBE Outreach data.

• FY2024 Annual Template Updates:
  • VSBE payment data will be separated out between VSBE prime payments and VSBE subcontractor payments with 2 new tabs being located at the bottom to add that information into the auto-populated fields
• FY2024 Outreach Form Updates:
  • It will now be a fillable Google Form document with a few additional fields from last year
  • All participating VSBE units are required to submit both completed forms along with all required supporting backup data

SBR Compliance

SBR New Reporting Requirements:

These SBR Program Changes will be effective as of October 1, 2024.

HB 962/SB 673 - State Procurement - Small Business Reserve (SBR) Program – Goals and Outreach Program SBR Program Changes, effective October 1, 2024 includes:

• Increasing the SBR participation goal from a minimum of 15% to 20% of the unit’s total dollar value of goods, supplies, services, maintenance, construction, construction–related services, and architectural and engineering service contracts to be made directly to small businesses certified in the SBR Program.
• Expands the SBR Program to count designated SBR procurements and non-designated procurements awarded to small businesses that are certified in the SBR Program toward the unit’s 20% SBR attainment.

FY25 NEW SBR Quarterly Reporting Requirements

• The total number and the dollar value of AWARDS the unit made to small businesses under designated small business reserve contracts;
• The total number and the dollar value of AWARDS the unit made to small businesses under non-designated Small Business Reserve contracts, including purchase card procurements;
• The total dollar value of AWARDS the unit made under procurement contracts; and Contain other such information as required by the Governor’s Office of Small, Minority, and Women Business Affairs
• In terms of the SBR Quarterly/Annual Reports, the ANSWERS Reports 709, 710, & 721 OR VIEW DIRECT A30USB11 provide information pertaining to AWARDS. We are planning to incorporate these ANSWERS Reports within the NEW SBR Reporting Requirements.
• The new SBR Reporting Document is forthcoming, as we are planning to post the new SBR Quarterly Instructions and Template in the SBR Toolkit by July 1, 2024. (Note that at this time, we are also planning to continue tracking the SBR payments, as previously collected.) 

SBR, VSBE & MBE Certification Compliance

With regards to the Small Business Reserve (SBR) and Veteran-Owned Small Business Enterprise (VSBE) Programs, we wanted to remind you all that certificates are not issued to vendors who are participants in these programs. We have recently received an increase of inquiries pertaining to vendors requesting SBR/VSBE certificates and wanted to make certain that these inquiries are not a result of requests initiated by our units (as having valid SBR/VSBE Certification information within the vendor eMMA accounts is sufficient for the proof of certification).

Units are able to obtain the SBR/VSBE Certification status through am eMMA account by:

1. Logging into your eMMA account
2. Selecting the “Vendors”/”Browse Vendors” option and finding this information
3. You will know that the vendor is in the program(s) if you find the “SBR (or VSBE) Certification Number” listed within the “Company Info” section and the “Documents” section provides the “SBR (or VSBE) Application” with a valid, approved “Status” and an “Expiration Date” that has not yet past.

If you do not have an eMMA account, you may conduct a Public "Vendor Search" by:

1. You would go to  https://emma.maryland.gov/page.aspx/en/usr/login?ReturnUrl=/page.aspx/en/buy/homepage website
2. Select the “Vendor Search” option
3. Enter the name of the company within the “Company Name” or “Keywords” search field (or if you have the eMMA “SUP#” of the vendor, you can place that in the “eMMA Vendor ID” field).
4. Upon locating the vendor, if they are in the SBR/VSBE Program, within this search, you will find the SBR (or VSBE) “Vendor Box” checked, with the “SBR (or VSBE) Certification #” listed and an “SBR (or VSBE) Expiration Date” that has not yet past.

**Note that we encourage searching the Internal Vendor Search option, as more accurate information may be found. However, if you should have any questions, do not hesitate to contact our office for assistance with verifying those vendors who are certified within the SBR and VSBE Programs.

MBE Vendor Certification

Certification for vendors within the Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) Program, can only be verified through the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) Directory of Certified Firms. You can find this Directory by visiting: https://marylandmdbe.mdbecert.com/?TN=marylandmdbe