Microsoft Corp. Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner promised Gov. Martin O?Malley and other state officials the company would work with the state to increase minority business participation in its sales of software to the government.
Turner?s assurances in a letter last week to O?Malley and Comptroller Peter Franchot helped clear the way for Wednesday?s approval by the Board of Public Works of a $55 million contract to a Microsoft reseller Franchot had managed to block in June due to the lack of minority involvement.
The reseller, Software House International, had said it could only offer 1 percent participation. The state goal is 25 percent.
The contract allows state and local government to purchase Microsoft software at steep discounts.
“Microsoft shares Maryland?s strong commitment to diversity and the provision of business opportunities to [minority business enterprises] and other under-represented enterprises,” Turner said, adding that the company has done so in the past.
Turner said he had formed a team of Microsoft executives that “will invest the time and energy to find creative solutions to enhance MBE participation.”
Franchot called the proposal “exciting,” but an earlier letter from Microsoft?s account executive for state government suggested that getting more minority firms on board would be problematic.
Writing to Ellis Kitchen, the state chief of information technology in June, Microsoft?s Curtis Rasmussen said that adding a minority subcontractor to the supply chain would raise the price for the software. Rasmussen also said that no state-certified minority firm has ever applied to be a large account reseller.
Even if one did, “it is highly unlikely any small company would qualify for our LAR certification due to strict requirements,” including high sales volume, a national presence and employee certification.
