This month the Office of Minority Business Enterprise at the Maryland Department of Transportation celebrated the milestone to reach 10,000 certified firms. (David Trozzo/MDOT)
The Maryland Department of Transportation is thrilled to announce that there are now 10,000 certified firms across our minority, small and women-owned business programs in Maryland! The Department hosts one of the largest directories of certified firms in the nation.
Established in 1978, Maryland’s Minority Business Enterprise Program is believed to be the oldest in the country. In November, Lending Tree found Maryland to be the leading state for minority-owned businesses to grow and thrive in nationally. This tremendous accomplishment continues our state and MDOT’s leadership in ensuring small and diverse firms may fairly compete for both state and federally funded contracts and create jobs here in Maryland.
MDOT is Maryland’s official certification agency for the Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) Program, the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program, the Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) Program, and Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Program. Collectively, these programs help to ensure access for small and minority-owned businesses to fairly compete for federally and state funded contracting opportunities. The dedicated employees of MDOT’s Office of Minority Business Enterprise work to ensure only qualified firms participate in our comprehensive certification programs through both initial certification and maintenance of certification status.
The team has created a comprehensive set of resources available to firms seeking to learn more about certification, and for prime contractors looking to forge relationships with small and minority-owned businesses. The Department’s website was recently updated to streamline available information for interested parties and potential applications. It is easier than ever for firms to learn about certification.
Our initiative to implement cursory certification application reviews for businesses is a tremendous asset to firms to resolve any issues with their applications ahead of time and work with our certification experts to ensure a smooth process when they are ready to submit their application.
The Governor’s Minority & Small Business Outreach Summit last November brought together minority firms, vendors, and government agencies. (David Trozzo/MDOT)
MDOT hosted more than 800 attendees at the Governor’s Minority & Small Business Outreach Summit in Baltimore City to share best practices, entrepreneurial tips and preview more than $7 billion in public contracting opportunities with the State. (David Trozzo/MDOT)
In addition to these resources, the Office of Minority Business Enterprise works with MDOT’s Office of Small & Minority Business Policy outreach team to directly engage with firms and the business community to spread the word about certification and to share resources. They host a monthly virtual workshop to provide firms with an overview of the certification process and the documents they need to support their applications. MDOT collaborates with the Governor’s Office of Small, Minority, and Women Business Affairs, the Department of General Services and the University System of Maryland to host the annual Governor’s Minority and Small Business Summit. This past year, we hosted over 800 attendees in Baltimore City to share best practices, entrepreneurial tips and preview more than $7 billion in public contracting opportunities with the State.
At MDOT we are proud of the 10,000 certified firm milestone and we are committed to continuing to ensure qualified firms participate in these programs. More information about how to get certified can be found here.
Kim Johnson is the Chief Equity Officer at the Maryland Department of Transportation.
