State of Maryland Offers Powerful Business Intelligence Tool to Small Business Owners

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ANNAPOLIS, MD – The State of Maryland’s Procurement Forecast for Fiscal Year 2021 is now available on the Governor’s Office of Small, Minority & Women Business Affairs website. The database provides insights on projected opportunities that are expected to be advertised or awarded through June 30, 2021.

“This is a powerful business intelligence tool for small, minority, women, and veteran business owners,” said Jimmy Rhee, Special Secretary of the Governor’s Office of Small, Minority & Women Business Affairs. “It provides insight on what is likely to be coming down the pipeline, yet many entrepreneurs don’t even know it exists.”

The forecast identifies both new and recurring purchases of $100,000 or greater on projected opportunities in the current fiscal year. This includes task orders issued under master contracts. As an added feature and since small businesses are often seeking contracting opportunities below the mandated $100,000 threshold, many state agencies also included information on projected contracts between $15,000 and $99,999.

“Projects with lower thresholds are a great entry point for firms looking to break into the state contracting arena,” Rhee said. “Now, more than ever, this is exactly the information small business owners need in order to connect with buyers at the agency level.”

Users can access the online database 24/7 and build a customized data set from six different search options. Downloading the results into Excel is a critical step as this gives users several expanded data fields that are not visible on screen, such as the buyer’s name, phone number, and email address.

To access the database, visit the Procurement Forecast tab at goMDsmallbiz@maryland.gov.