Howard County Code Section 4.122 established an Equal Business Opportunity program to foster overall equity and fairness to all citizens in relation to business enterprises conducting business with the County.

If a total contract award is $50,000 or more, the Prime Contractor shall make a genuine good faith effort to comply with the Howard County Equal Business Opportunity (EBO) program’s 10% subcontracting goal. The Prime Contractor shall make a good faith effort to obtain minority subcontractor participation even if the Prime Contractor has the capability to complete the work with its own workforce. This good faith effort is also applicable to Prime Contractors who are themselves minority-owned firms. The percentage requirement may vary if the contract is funded by a federal or state agency.

Possible areas of obtaining subcontracting participation include, but are not limited to, flagging services, hauling, copying and printing, and the purchase of materials used in performing the contract. Contractors may use minority, women or disabled business enterprises certified by Howard County, Maryland; Maryland Department of Transportation; City of Baltimore, Maryland; or another certifying entity in order to satisfy the 10% subcontracting goal. The website addresses for lists of minority businesses are:

http://www.howardcountymd.gov/Purchasing/purchasing_ebo.htm
http://www.mdot.state.md.us/MBE_Program/directory
http://cityservices.baltimorecity.gov/mwboo

PRIME CONTRACTOR INVOICING REQUIREMENTS
Prime Contractors must use the County’s standard invoice that will record EBO participation. If there is no EBO participation in a particular billing cycle due to the nature of the goods or services provided, that must be noted on the invoice as well. Even though Prime Contractors may have their own invoice forms, the County’s form must be used, either in place of or in addition to the Contractor’s invoice form, so that County can track compliance of EBO participation in a standard and consistent manner.

ADOBE ACROBAT (PDF) VERSION, CLICK HERE.

PRIME CONTRACTOR REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
In addition to the County’s standard invoice form, the successful Prime Contractors must provide their EBO subcontractors with the following Subcontractor Monthly Payment Report for completion.

ADOBE ACROBAT (PDF) VERSION, CLICK HERE.

SUBCONTRACTOR REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
Subcontractors that receive this report from the successful Prime Contractor are required to complete this report. The report is to be completed by the 10th of each month by the subcontractor for the preceding month to the Office of Purchasing unless otherwise specified by the Office of Purchasing.

ADOBE ACROBAT (PDF) VERSION SUBCONTRACTOR MONTHLY PAYMENT REPORT, CLICK HERE.