Capital Contracting & Project Delivery Improvement Initiative

City of Baltimore Capital Contracting Improvement Initiative

ABOUT THE INITIATIVE

The City is modernizing how capital projects are delivered—streamlining contracting processes, improving coordination, and increasing transparency and fairness across the system. This initiative addresses long-standing challenges in how capital projects are moving through the contracting systems in the City and how they are managed and completed and monitored.

Mayor Brandon M. Scott signed an Executive Order authorizing MOID to lead implementation of this initiative. Working closely with agencies and industry partners, MOID identified 23 key recommendations to improve how capital work gets done—for agencies, contractors, and the public alike.

Read the full Executive Order here.

WHAT THIS INITIATIVE AIMS TO ACHIEVE

  • Make project delivery faster and more predictable.
  • Improve public transparency and accountability.
  • Expand equity and opportunity in public contracting.
  • Modernize tools, standards, and communications.
  • Build internal capacity for better project management.

MOID will provide regular updates as the work progresses.  The Full Report can be found by clicking here.

HOW IT WILL BE CARRIED OUT

Cross-agency work groups—including contract administrators, engineers, project managers, procurement staff, and others—are developing action plans for the recommendations.

Each work group is tasked with:

  • Translating recommendations into actionable steps
  • Identifying needed resources, tools, or policy changes
  • Coordinating with agencies to align processes
  • Setting metrics to track progress

TIMELINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Implementation will be phased over the next 6 months to a year, based on the complexity of each recommendation.

  • Short-Term (0-6 months): Early wins like new training, regulatory modernization, centralized bidding sites, and feedback mechanisms.
  • Medium-Term (6-18 months): Contracting methods and dashboards.
  • Long-term (18 months-years): Structural reforms and further regulatory updates.

THE RECOMMENDATIONS

Improvement Area I: Transparency & Accountability

  1. Develop and disseminate comprehensive documents including standard operating procedures, contracting materials, and compliance requirements.
  2. Develop and publish late invoice dashboard for capital project invoices.
  3. Standardize specific contracting practices and language across agencies, to the extent practical.
  4. Create an online resource to help city contracting with visual workflows, improving understanding of capital project process.
  5. Develop and analyze reports on capital project expenditures, progress, and outcomes.
  6. Implement regular audits and reviews of capital contracting processes.
  7. Implement regular feedback surveys to enhance capital contracting processes.

Improvement Area II: Equity & Inclusion

  1. Identify and unbundle contracts to create more opportunities for MBEs and WBEs with smaller scale contracts, where appropriate.
  2. Expand outreach programs providing technical assistance and networking opportunities MBEs and WBEs to connect with contracting opportunities.
  3. Develop incentives for prime contractors to use a higher diversity of sub-contractors.

Improvement Area III: Communication Enhancement

  1. Develop and promote a centralized website for bidding opportunities, enhancing accessibility and transparency for vendors and other stakeholders.
  2. Implement a centralized communication platform for updates and tracking among project stakeholders

Improvement Area IV: Operational Efficiency

  1. Introduce electronic bidding and e-documents to the bidding process.
  2. Improve the data management standards and connectivity between project management software portals in the city.
  3. Provide ongoing project management training for staff involved in capital projects to ensure proper handling of timelines budgets, and outcomes, while aligning with best practices.
  4. Develop positions and classifications for project management expertise.
  5. Implement strategic staffing adjustments to align teams, divisions, and departments with project requirements and needs.
  6. Raise the cost threshold for Board of Estimates review.
  7. Implement internal project milestone tracker and status reporting.
  8. Analyze current processes and develop workflows to identify redundancies and opportunities for increased efficiencies.

Improvement Area V: Innovation & Strategic Improvements

  1. Create templates and guidance to support the expanded use of out-driven request for proposals (RFPs), enhancing vendor selection processes and improving project outcomes.
  2. Expand the use of innovative contracting models for greater flexibility and improve project delivery outcomes.
  3. Evaluate and refine contract requirements and regulations.