ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Wes Moore on Friday signed an executive order to underscore his administration’s commitment to strengthening participation, compliance, and accountability for Maryland’s Minority Business Enterprise program. The executive order—the first minority business enterprise-related order issued by any Maryland governor—will provide the Moore-Miller administration with data to assess Maryland’s current Minority Business Enterprise program performance and inform program development strategy.

“I’ve said this before and I will say this again, I am data driven and heart-led; the data shows that we are not meeting the mark in our Minority Business Enterprise program, so my heart is saying we must do everything we can to not only meet our goals, but exceed them,” said Governor Moore. “Our administration has the most diverse cabinet in history, and it’s critical that we take the first step forward in delivering more access and opportunities to our minority-owned businesses in order to create a more economically competitive and inclusive state.”

The State of Maryland established the Minority Business Enterprise program in 1978 to increase economic opportunity and participation for minority and women-owned firms to compete in state government procurement. In 2013, Maryland established a 29% Minority Business Enterprise participation goal in all qualifying state procurement expenditures, which the state has consistently failed to meet.

Friday’s executive order requires:

• Participating agencies that have not yet submitted mandatory Minority Business Enterprise data for FY22 to the Governor’s Office of Small, Minority, and Women Business Affairs must do so within 15 days.
• Within 60 days, the 70 agency program participants must report certain procurement activity since July 1, 2022, in addition to Minority Business Enterprise goals and benchmarks;
• Within 60 days, participating agencies must report on the outreach and marketing efforts conducted to Minority Business Enterprises since July 1, 2022;
• ​​Within 60 days, the Maryland Department of Transportation, as the state’s Minority Business Enterprise certification agency, will report to the ​governor the current number of firms certified as Minority Business Enterprises, broken down by jurisdiction, race, and gender.

“As secretary, my goal is to work in partnership with Governor Moore to ensure we are greater in tune with our minority-owned businesses,” said Maryland Department of Commerce Acting Secretary Kevin Anderson. “What we learn will enable us to strengthen our partnership with our minority-owned businesses, which in turn will help strengthen our state’s economy.”

Data submitted to the governor from the participating agencies will guide the administration’s work in improving and strengthening the Minority Business Enterprise program through policies, procedures, initiatives, and legislation.

Additional information on the Maryland’s Minority Business Enterprise program is available on the Governor’s Office of Small, Minority, Women Business Affairs website​.

Photo via Governor Wes Moore