The document provides an overview of the state procurement process in Maryland in 3 easy steps, though notes it is not really easy. It discusses the main contract types one may encounter as a health policy analyst, including timelines and key parts of drafting a Request for Proposal, such as scope of work, deliverables and evaluation criteria. It also outlines important considerations like using a Contract Fulfillment Team to review RFPs, checking references for evaluation committees, and tools for finding small, minority and veteran-owned businesses.

1. Procurement: Getting it done
in three easy steps. (Not
really.)
March 13, 2013
John S. Wilson
Health Policy Analyst Meeting
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2. What is it?
• How the state acquires, rents, or purchases supplies,
services, and real property
• Essentially four types analysts are likely to encounter
– Request for Proposal (standard RFP)
– Sole Source
– Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
– Emergency Contract
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3. Contract Types
• Sole Source: a situation when only a single entity can
provide the good or service that is required
• Emergency: sudden and unexpected occurrence that will
lead to negative effect in services or loss of funds if not
corrected
• MOU: - Used when another agency of government at
any level – state, local
or federal- will actually provide what is needed
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4. Timeline
• 6 to 9 months is the usual timeframe for all parts
of the procurement process over $200,000
– Includes preparation of specifications
– Procurement process
– All approvals, including Board of Public
Works (BPW), required for contracts over
$200,000
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5. Contents of an RFP
• Background- This is your introduction. The goal is to convey
information that potential offerors need to better understand
their role in the context of the business or technical environment.
Be brief.
• Scope of Work - Foundation of the RFP. Includes all
specifications, technical and business requirements, deliverables,
IT architecture and environments, installation requirements,
acceptance test procedures, and project stakeholders.
– Focus on enabling offerors to clearly understand the
requirements and specifications. Leave as little as possible open
to interpretation. Allow offerors to submit high quality
technical proposals.
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6. Contents of an RFP (cont’d)
•Establish a baseline for other parts of the RFP, particularly the evaluation
criteria, technical proposal instructions and developing accurate financial
proposals
• Deliverables - How will you use and measure the quality of the
deliverables? Are you engaging a consultant to capture data and
analyze a situation? If so, will the deliverable be an excel file that
contains the data, or in a format that can be further manipulated?
Are you expecting a fully operational application that satisfies
specific requirements and that is built to defined specifications?
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7. Contents of an RFP (cont)
• As you’re writing you may need to get many others, particularly
programmatic staff involved to answer key questions. Ideally, they
will have had input from the beginning.
• What if an RFP of this scope or area of interest hasn’t yet been done?
– A decision memo may help to determine what are the available
options, pros and cons, and expected stakeholder feedback.
– Moreover such a memo can provide a “true north,” or compass
if you will, that can assist in honing in on the problem the RFP
seeks to solve in case the process becomes unwieldy. (See Paul’s
IRO example.)
• After the writing is complete, the real work just begins…
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8. .
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9. Contract Fulfillment Team (CFT)
• Allows for the RFP to be reviewed from a variety of perspectives by
different personnel including legal, procurement, and technical
(typically RFP author and program staff), and the MBE coordinator.
• Usually meets 3-4 times and will finalize the RFP so it can progress
to the Procurement Review Group (PRG) then DBM for posting.
• The CFT shouldn’t be scheduled until the RFP is fairly complete
and ready to move forward to post.
• PRG – Meets on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month and
is tasked with signing off on MBE, VSB, and SBR. Without a good
justification for exceptions, the PRG will ask questions and suggest
changes.
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10. Evaluation Committee
• Evaluator Experience: An evaluation committee should be
comprised of individuals who are experienced in proposal review.
Must also maintain confidentiality so as to decrease risk of vendor
influence in process.
• Objectivity: Objectivity of the requirements and performance criteria to
ensure an adequate number of proposals were received.
• Key thing to keep in mind:
– Reference Checks: Carefully check offeror references. Susan has a great
story about an offeror who listed a current DHMH contract as a
reference yet was performing poorly. (Hint: They weren’t awarded the new
contract.)
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11. Small Business Reserve
• Designated procurements can only be awarded to
certified small businesses
• Businesses have to average no more than $2
million per year in sales/business (certain other
limitations)
• Non-profit entities cannot participate as a small
business
• The scope and complexity of the RFP, knowledge of the
industry,
and availability of sufficient contractors in the area of
interest that you’re targeting will help determine when an
SBR-only release is appropriate. 11

12. Minority Business Enterprise
(MBE)
• MBE goals can only be met by subcontracting to certified MBE
companies
• If there’s no opportunity for subcontracting, then a 0% MBE goal is
appropriate. However, the majority of projects and services include
subcontracting opportunities.
• The MBE coordinator will assist in finding the right goal during the
contract fulfillment team process
- If goal is below 25% specific subcategories (women, specific
ethnicities, etc) do not need to be quantified
• MBEs can be found on eMaryland Marketplace
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13. Veteran’s Small Business
Enterprise
• Gives preference to subcontractors who are veterans of
the armed forces
• The goal required is typically a fraction of the MBE goal
set
• How do I find VSBs?
– VetBiz.org, which is run by the Veterans Department
– Doesn’t require registration, but does require extreme
patience. Searches are incredibly general.
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14. eMaryland Marketplace
• Where open bid procurements are posted by state
agencies
• Used to search for and categorize vendors (e.g., SBR,
MBE, and VSB)
• Requires registration to access fully
• Offerors must be listed on eMaryland prior to contract
award
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