The Minority, Female and Disabled-Owned Business Program and the Local Small Business Reserve Program received record funding last year, a recent report from the Montgomery County Office of Procurement found.
The county awarded $305 million in contracts to certified businesses in the reserve program and more than $246 million in contracts to certified MFD businesses — both amounts are the highest since the program started more than 25 years ago.
The MFD program assists certified minority firms in finding contractor and subcontractor opportunities with county government agencies. The reserve program requires county departments to award 25% of their procurements to local, small businesses.
“It has been an important goal for me to expand who we do business with and to open it up to businesses that historically may not have had access to these contracts,” County Executive Marc Elrich said in a press release.
The Office of Procurement — which uses public funds to purchase goods, services and construction required by county departments — participates in more than 30 outreach events in the region annual and co-hosts events with local organizations.
Some of the programs it hosted last year included Minority Business Enterprise and Women Business Enterprise certification workshops and a quarterly webinar series called “How to Do Business with Montgomery County.”
“The Office of Procurement proudly manages several programs dedicated to improving minority and local spending in procurement,” Director Ash Shetty said in a press release. “We continue to provide outreach to the local and minority business community and are gearing up for a few outreach events with local organizations.”
