Office of Procurement Celebrates Launch of Solicitation Tracker First of its kind in the National Capital Region

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The Montgomery County Office of Procurement has launched a new online tool to find the status of a solicitation from issuance to contract execution. This increases transparency by giving the public the ability to view the solicitation process from beginning to end. The tracker is located on the Procurement website, www.montgomerycountymd.gov/tracker.

To celebrate the launch, the Office of Procurement hosted a pizza party on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at their office in Rockville. The celebration was held during the monthly open house with about 30 local businesses in attendance. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich also attended.

 “I’m very pleased to celebrate the launch of this online tool that will help businesses. In the beginning of my administration, we held several 4Business Listening Sessions where the business community expressed a need for more transparency in the procurement process,” said Elrich. “Procurement was described as a ’black hole’ where people couldn’t find out any information about the solicitation status. Director Ash Shetty has really listened and is making improvements. This tool provides access to information that was desperately needed.”

To use the tool, simply type in the solicitation number or description and find out the status of the solicitation. It includes the ability to contact people directly and drill down for additional information like bid tabulations. The tracker includes solicitations from seven years ago through present day.

“This is the first time this information is available in Montgomery County,” said Procurement Director Ash Shetty. “This access to information is unparalleled and unprecedented. I jokingly kept referring to the Solicitation Tracker as the ‘Pizza Tracker,’ because it’s similar to the way customers can view the status of their pizza online. Then our staff member came up with the idea to host a pizza party to celebrate the launch of the tracker.”

The Solicitation Tracker was developed by the Procurement IT Specialist Sheronda Baltimore, and the Department of Technology Services. This was a no-cost solution.

For more information on the Office of Procurement, visit www.montgomerycountymd.gov/pro/.

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Release ID: 19-394
Media Contact: Bethany Manimbo 240-777-9941