The Moore administration’s plans to modernize Maryland’s digital services and infrastructure cleared a nine-figure hurdle — and the opposition of the state’s comptroller — to put money and work in the hands of eight companies from throughout the mid-Atlantic. 

Of those contractors receiving parts of the $300 million contract, which the state’s Board of Public Works voted 2-1 to approve during a meeting in Annapolis on Wednesday, only two hail from Maryland. 

The overall sum will support upgrading websites, apps and other components of residents’ experiences with public services. Highlights include UX/UI design, agile product development and accessibility upgrades as specific priorities, according to the meeting agenda. 

The contract “will help us improve digital services for Marylanders, help address accessibility issues, the political cybersecurity issues we’re facing and create economic opportunities for Maryland companies,” said Maryland IT Secretary Katie Savage, as quoted by Maryland Matters. 

Savage leads the state’s Crownsville-based Department of Information Technology (DoIT). The department selected and rated contractors based on weighted factors including technical fit, per the board meeting agenda notes. 

How much each contractor gets from the $300 million pie — and the scope of each of their work — has not yet been determined. That’s because of how the contract is set up: Each awardee will receive work orders from DoIT in sequence based on their rating. Once one cycle is done, the next order will go back to the top-ranked contractor.

Deputy Secretary Marcy Katz Jacobs, DoIT’s chief digital experience officer, told Technical.ly the department used this work order model because the problems that needed addressing were too urgent to take a more prolonged procurement approach. She cited as example the Biden-era Department of Justice’s updates to Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which required government agencies to make their websites and apps accessible to people with disabilities by April 26 of this year.

“Over the life of the contract, all eight contractors will receive work orders of different amounts, degrees of complexity, and duration,” Katz Jacobs said. “DoIT will equitably distribute work order assignments to ensure that no single contractor is advantaged by receiving larger work orders due solely to their place in the order.” 

Who’s in line for the work? Companies from MD — and PA, VA, DC

Here are the eight recipients of the contracts, listed in order of their weighted rating: 

  • 22nd Century Technologies, a public and private sector contractor with dual headquarters in McLean, Virginia, and Princeton, New Jersey. Its federal clients include the Department of Defense, the FBI, and various defense and intelligence sub-agencies. Its services include cybersecurity, digital transformation, automation and AI integration.
  • Nava, a DC-based public benefit corporation founded by alums of Healthcare.gov-building efforts during the Obama administration. 
  • Navitas Business Consulting, based in Herndon, Virginia. The Board of Public Works meeting agenda lists the prolific government contractor in Columbia, Maryland, where it has an office affiliated with state government work, per its website. Its work spans AI, cyber, cloud migration and data analytics services. 
  • vTech Solution, a DC company offering cloud computing management, multiplatform security and related services for government, commercial and educational sector clients. Its projects in Maryland include ID verification services for Prince George’s County, per the company’s website.
  • Fearless, a startup based in Downtown/Inner Harbor Baltimore whose record of government contracts includes work on the city’s website and a pandemic-related project with the CDC.  
  • ICF International, a Reston, Virginia-based, publicly traded company whose federal work includes upgrades to the General Services Administration’s SAM.gov platform.
  • Bloom Works, identified as based in Narberth, Pennsylvania, in meeting notes (its LinkedIn mentions a Philadelphia location). The public benefit corporation counts the City of Philadelphia and State of Connecticut among its clients, and did data migration work for a Department of Veterans Affairs benefits portal.  
  • Forum One of Arlington, Virginia, which offers data analytics and IT services to mission-driven organizations and government agencies. One project involved helping redesign AARP’s Livability Index.

Lack of Maryland representation seeds dissent among board 

The three-person Board of Public Works consists of Comptroller Brooke Lierman, Gov. Wes Moore and State Treasurer Dereck Davis. 

Lierman voted against the contract approval; in her comments on Wednesday and a clarification email from her office on Thursday, she cited the relative lack of Maryland-based vendors, the round-robin nature of the work order model, and the recently implemented 3% tax on digital services as reasons for her vote. 

“My opposition was based on three factors:” Lierman said in her clarification, “(1) the issuance of the contract to a large number of out-of-state vendors and the withdrawal of the economic benefit factors clause from the RFP; (2) the construction of the contracting vehicle as a round-robin work order model, rather than one with secondary competition that would allow for more transparency, more autonomy for agencies, and the assurance of best value; and (3) the unknown effect that the IT Services tax will have on the cost-structure of the services being provided and on the companies who were awarded the contract.”

Lierman has approved contracts for non-local companies in the past, including a $72.7 million tranche to McLean-based Guidehouse for help updating the state’s tax systems. 

DoIT’s Katz Jacobs said half the involved companies have at least offices in Maryland, and that they collectively employ about 1,400 people in the state. 

​​”All firms are planning to hire Marylanders to support [the contract’s] work orders,” Katz Jacobs said, “creating significant opportunities and growth for Marylanders.”