Governor's Office of Small, Minority & Women Business Affairs (Maryland)

What it is

The Governor's Office of Small, Minority & Women Business Affairs is a coordinating office within Maryland's Executive Department, based in Crownsville. It connects small businesses to economic opportunities and implements and monitors the state's small, minority, women and veteran preference procurement programs across more than 70 state agencies and departments.

Programs it oversees

• Minority Business Enterprise (MBE): created by the General Assembly in 1978, with a statewide aspirational goal of 29%. Certification itself is performed by the Office of Minority Business Enterprise within the Maryland Department of Transportation, which holds a monthly application assistance workshop.
• Small Business Reserve (SBR): on SBR-designated solicitations only Certified Small Businesses can win, so small firms compete only with each other. The office says about 20% of open state-funded solicitations on eMMA are designated SBR. Self-certification is free through eMaryland Marketplace Advantage (eMMA) and is valid for three years.
• Veteran-Owned Small Business Enterprise (VSBE): agencies are directed to spend at least 3% of procurement dollars with certified VSBE firms. Certification is free, requires 51% veteran ownership and control plus veteran verification, and renews every three years.

What it offers founders

Beyond the programs, the office runs the free T.I.P.S. webinar series on doing business with Maryland agencies, publishes a procurement forecast, keeps liaison directories so you can find the small business contact at each agency, and holds outreach events such as Ready, Set, GROW!. It also has an MBE Ombudsman and an MBE fraud hotline.

How to engage

Most steps start with a free eMMA vendor account. From there, review the SBR program eligibility standards, which set employee and gross sales limits by industry, for example 100 employees and a $10 million average in gross sales for service businesses. Minority and women owners should read the MBE program page, and veteran owners the VSBE program page. The office is at 100 Community Place, Crownsville, MD 21032, phone 410-697-9600.

Why it matters in the DMV ecosystem

Maryland state agencies set aside work and set participation goals for small, minority-owned and veteran-owned firms. For an early-stage Maryland company selling services or products government buys, getting certified and learning how these programs work can open contracts that are hard to reach in open competition.