Program Description

  Business Relations and Compliance

The mission of the Division of Business Relations and Compliance (DBRC) is to plan and implement programmatic strategies to expand business opportunities for minority, female, and disabled business owners as well as Montgomery County small businesses. The division administers the County's Wage Requirements and Prevailing Wage programs for service and construction contracts. The DBRC is responsible for ensuring County government contracting compliance with the socioeconomic laws, programs, and policies of the County.

• Minority, Female, and Disabled Persons (MFD): The MFD program objectives focus on ensuring that contracts awarded by the County include equitable participation by certified minority, female, or disabled-owned businesses. The program identifies MFD firms, encourages and coordinates their participation in the procurement process through community outreach and internal seminars, and monitors contracts subject to MFD participation to ensure compliance.
• Local Small Business Reserve Program (LSBRP): The Local Small Business Reserve Program ensures that County departments award a minimum of 25 percent of total eligible contract dollars for goods, services, or construction to registered local small businesses. The program certifies local small businesses that meet the requirements set by law, assists County departments in identifying contracting opportunities and solicitations appropriate for LSBRP competition, and provides training and networking to help local small businesses compete with businesses of similar size and resources for County contracts to strengthen the local small business sector.
• The Local Business Preference Program (LBPP) is intended to bolster the County's economic growth and support the creation and retention of employment opportunities within the County. LBPP is a local preference points program, this means that Montgomery County-based businesses will receive an extra 10% preference points on County contract awards. LBPP requires a 10% price preference for a local business bidding on an IFB or an evaluation factor worth 10% of the total points for a local business submitting a proposal under an RFP for a contract awarded by the County.
• Local Business Subcontracting Program (LBSP): The County established a 10% subcontracting goal for local businesses in procurement contracts with an estimated value to exceed $10 million.
• Wage Requirements Law (WRL): The Wage Requirements Law program ensures that County contractors and subcontractors pay employees a "living wage" in compliance with the annually adjusted rate established by the Maryland State Commissioner of Labor and Industry for the Montgomery County region.
• Prevailing Wage Law (PWL): The Prevailing Wage Law is patterned after the Federal Davis-Bacon and State of Maryland's prevailing wage laws. It requires the local prevailing wage be paid to workers on County-financed construction contracts. The prevailing wage rate is a rate paid for comparable work in the private sector within the County. The rates are calculated by the State, based on surveys of construction company employers.
• Veteran-Owned Business Preference Program: The Verified Veteran-Owned businesses that are local to Montgomery County will receive additional evaluation points worth 5% of the total available points for proposals submitted under Local Small Business Reserve Program.