The St. Mary’s County Commissioners on Tuesday decided to move forward with a preference for local businesses in the county’s procurement process. The exact details of the program remain to be worked out.
Commissioner Todd Morgan (R: 4th) will be the point man in working out the details. Morgan, who works for a defense contractor, has extensive experience with procurement. He asked that decisions be delayed while he had a chance to talk with the other commissioners privately. The county open meetings law allows one-on-one communication but prohibits a majority getting together to discuss something in private.
The commissioners appear to be leaning towards giving a ten-percent preference to local vendors, although if the bid has technical requirements they would have to meet those requirements. The total extra cost to taxpayers per bid would be capped at $50,000, although Commissioner Daniel Morgan (R: 2nd) argued for a lower amount.
The big stumbling block is how to define local and how to define vendor. On the question of “vendor,” would the definition apply only to the prime contractor or would it also include subcontractors. And how much “local” would a vendor have to be, including how many local employees, the place where taxes are paid, the business address, etc.
Commissioner President Francis “Jack” Russell (D) argued for the commissioners to adopt the most uncomplicated definitions. Apparently Montgomery County has a more detailed local preference approach. Charles County is considering a plan that is more closely modeled after Montgomery County, according the Elaine Kramer, the county’s chief financial officer.
The commissioners did decide the raise the minimum price for requiring a bid from $15,000 to $25,000 and give the department head the leeway of determining which was the best value to the county. At Morgan’s suggestion at least two bids will be required for between 415,000 and $25,000.
Kramer said there were 350 purchase orders last year in that $15,000-$25,000 range involving more than $2 million in purchases. She said there were still checks to make sure there wasn’t abuse by department heads but it would help to streamline the process.
Kramer said about one-third of the bids the county issued that weren’t restricted in some way went to St. Mary’s County businesses in the last year and a half. She said the county has procurement partnerships with other regional agencies that wouldn’t be affected by any changes the county makes. Also some grants the county receives have their own bidding requirements.
Kramer did say that a review of some recent bids showed a small percentage of local bidders. Morgan responded, “We are trying to make it easier for them to compete. After that it’s up to them.”
The issue is expected to be brought up again when the commissioners next meet in two weeks, County Administrator John Savich said he hoped a final decision would be made quickly on the change in the bidding
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