Commissioners of St. Mary’s County

Leonardtown, MD — The Commissioners of St. Mary’s County are considering repealing the four-year-old Local Vendor Preference for procurement. The commissioners, after a discussion at their June 7 meeting, voted to go to public hearing on June 28 to repeal the preference.

Procurement Manager Brandon Hayden told the commissioners that in the four years the preference has been on the books, only three of the 133 contracts issued took advantage of it. It cost the county $41,000 to award the contract to those three local companies instead of the actual low bidder.

Hayden and Chief Financial Officer Jeannett Cudmore presented the proposal to the commissioners.

Under the preference, a scoring system is set up in which a local company is given an additional number of points in deciding the bid winner. Commissioner Todd Morgan [R – 4th District] is the only commissioner who was on the board when it passed in February of 2012. He said he voted for it because he wanted to do something for small businesses.

But Commissioner Mike Hewitt [R – 2nd District] said that while the preference was made with good intent, Southern Maryland is one area he was worried that businesses in Calvert County were being penalized when they bid. “I still believe that it is better for the taxpayers to go with the lowest bid,” he said.

Hewitt, while observing the small number of business that availed themselves of the local preference, said that the lost revenue of $41,000 was still a lot of money. Hewitt, who is a local businessman, said he would not participate in the public hearing or the decision.

Commissioner Tom Jarboe [R: 1st District] noted that if adjacent counties reciprocated by adding their own local preference, then St. Mary’s County businesses could be impacted. He said local businesses needed to do business outside the county to survive.

Several of the commissioners, including John O’Connor [R – 3rd District], expressed an interest in coming up with some alternate ways of helping local businesses, including a requirement of a certain percentage of local subcontractors.

Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com