Maryland to raise minority business goal to 29 percent

By John Fritze, The Baltimore Sun

Maryland plans to steer to minority and women-owned businesses 29 percent of the nearly $8 billion a year it spends on contracts, increasing a target that was already among the most aggressive in the nation, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown said Monday.

The new goal — an increase from the current 25 percent — would if attained have a profound impact on boosting minority-owned construction firms, IT contractors, engineers and other companies in Maryland that have historically struggled to land state government contracts, supporters said.

Those firms received $1.9 billion out of $7.7 billion state government spent on contracts last year, according to state data.

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