Montgomery County Designates All Informal Solicitations to Local Businesses More than $2 million in informal solicitations awarded in FY20

For Immediate Release: Thursday, March 11, 2021

As part of County Executive Marc Elrich’s effort to assist local small businesses to recover from the COVID-19 recession, the director of Procurement will require all informal solicitations to be reserved under the Local Small Business Reserve Program (LSBRP), starting on April 1, 2021. In Fiscal Year 2020, $2,026,173 was awarded in informal solicitations. 

“To a small local business, a $75,000 to $100,000 County government contract could make the difference between tiding over or having to permanently shutter their doors,” said Procurement Director Ash Shetty. “It is incumbent on us to make sure that if there is a competitive pool of local businesses that can meet our needs and requirements that they be given the opportunity.”

Previously, a County department could submit an exemption request to the Office of Procurement’s Division of Business Relations and Compliance to exempt an informal solicitation from the LSBRP. While this allowed streamlining the informal solicitation procurement process, these small purchases (below $100,000) may provide great contracting opportunities to local small businesses, and these County contracting funds may provide some help for them to recover from the current economic recession.

“While this yearlong pandemic has been devastating to the small business community, the Local Small Business Reserve Program provides a silver lining for small businesses that register as vendors with Montgomery County. This will have a significant positive impact on our small businesses,” said Georgette “Gigi” Godwin, president and CEO, Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. “When our small businesses succeed, our community succeeds.”

The Office of Procurement urges Montgomery County small businesses to register for the LSBRP. To learn more about the Local Small Business Reserve Program, visit the Procurement website www.montgomerycountymd.gov/pro.

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Release ID: 21-173
Media Contact: Bethany Manimbo 240-620-9454