Despite a $400 million projected budget gap, Montgomery Executive Ike Leggett said Tuesday he wants to eliminate the fees associated with bidding for county contracts. Leggett said the county would recover the $60,000 and $70,000 in revenue the fees provide through increased competition from small businesses.
“Capitalism doesn’t work very well when you only have a few competitors,” Leggett said.
Between July 2006 and July 2007, the county awarded about $686 million in contracting dollars for projects including health care services for low-income families, the operation of photo red-light traffic and speed cameras, construction projects, recycling and trash removal. Those applying for contracts face fees including a $10-per-bid submission charge and a $200 annual fee for a notification system that tips off providers when the county is posting a contract in their field.
David Dise, director of Montgomery’s Office of Procurement, said that over the past few years there has been a steady decline in companies interested in paying $200 a year to use the contract notification system.
“It’s dying a natural death,” Dise said.
Robyn Quinter, who owns a small graphic design company called Quinter Design, said she never bothered with the notification system.
“For the amount of business and the amount of proposals we put in, it is not cost-effective for us,” Quinter said. “If it does become a free service, I bet they probably would see a higher level of participation in bidding for contracts.”
The county executive’s plans also include increased outreach to businesses owned by minorities, women or people with disabilities, which constitute about one-third of the county’s current contract-holders.
Leggett says he would expand the list of certification programs for minority-owned businesses and eliminate requirements that county departments use current contracts for purchases under $5,000. He says both changes will give more firms a chance to prove themselves. The changes to the procurement process must be approved by the Montgomery County Council, but Leggett said he hopes to see his proposals at work by next fall.
