Procurement is a fancy word for a simple concept — purchasing of goods from IT and professional services to construction and manufacturing products.
In the case of government procurement, it means using taxpayer dollars — our money — to buy and deliver goods for the benefit of the public. But how much money are we spending? Who is getting our money? And what are they spending it on?
To answer these questions, the Maryland Office of the Comptroller partnered with the Nowak Metro Finance Lab at Drexel University to study federal, state, and local government procurement spending in Maryland to better understand the scale and scope of the procurement economy in Maryland and how best to support Maryland-based firms, especially minority and women-owned firms, to access government contracts. The analysis also comes as recent legal challenges to race-conscious programs for small businesses could alter Maryland’s Minority Business Enterprise Program.
The Maryland Procurement Playbook released recently found that federal, state, and local procurement spending amounted to an estimated $84 billion per year, or 17.5% of Maryland’s gross domestic product. Federal procurement accounted for 53% of government spending in Maryland, driven by the numerous federal offices, military installations and research institutions that call Maryland home.
