For Immediate Release: Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Briefings about the grant application and review process, Office of Procurement and workforce development in public safety and health and human services careers; review legislation to extend the sunset date for the County’s minority owned business purchasing program
The Government Operations and Fiscal Policy (GO) Committee will meet on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 9:30 a.m. to receive briefings about the grant application and review process with the Office of Grants Management and the Office of Procurement’s future strategic plans. In addition, the committee will review Expedited Bill 37-23, Contracts and Procurement – Minority Owned Businesses – Sunset Date – Amendments.
The members of the GO Committee include Chair Kate Stewart, Council Vice President Andrew Friedson and Councilmember Sidney Katz.
The joint Education and Culture (EC), Economic Development (ECON), Public Safety (PS) and Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. to receive a briefing about workforce development in public safety careers and discuss health and human services careers.
The members of the EC Committee include Chair Will Jawando and Councilmembers Gabe Albornoz and Kristin Mink.
The members of the ECON Committee include Chair Natali Fani-González, Councilmember Marilyn Balcombe, Council President Evan Glass and Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles.
The members of the PS Committee include Chair Katz and Councilmembers Dawn Luedtke and Mink.
The members of the HHS Committee include Chair Albornoz and Councilmembers Luedtke and Sayles.
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More detail on each agenda item is provided below.
Office of Grants Management: Grant applications and review process
Briefing: The GO Committee will receive a briefing about Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Bridge Grants and the Community Grants Non-Departmental Account (NDA) from the Office of Grants Management representatives. The Office of Grants Management has two areas of focus: incoming grants, which are grants that the County applies for and receives from outside sources, and outgoing grants, which are grants that the County awards to outside entities.
The Community Grants NDA includes eight competitive grant programs targeting
vulnerable populations, underserved communities, nonprofit support and place-based support. As part of an update to the grant process to ensure fairness and adapt to evolving community needs, grants from the Community Grants NDA that were not shifted to the base budget of a department in FY23 were required to submit new applications to be considered for future funding. For FY24, the Council also approved more than $2.8 million in bridge funding to support FY23 Community Grant NDA programs whose current contracts expired prior to Dec. 31, 2023.
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Briefing: The GO Committee will receive a briefing about the Office of Procurement’s future strategic plans. The briefing is expected to include the office’s current plans for revamping the County’s procurement models, resources that the office will need in the next five years, challenges the office is facing with respect to staffing retention and recruitment, supply chain issues and adoption of new technologies. In addition, the briefing will include an overview of key performance metrics and the office’s experience with using Bidnet, which is a system to publish, distribute and award contracts.
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Review: The GO Committee will review Expedited Bill 37-23, Contracts and Procurement – Minority Owned Businesses – Sunset Date – Amendments, which would extend the sunset date for the County’s minority owned business purchasing program. Councilmembers Jawando and Sayles are the lead sponsors of Expedited Bill 37-23. All other Councilmembers are cosponsors.
Article XIV of the County Code, Purchases from Minority Owned Businesses, provides procurement procedures to address the fact that minority owned businesses have experienced the effects of discrimination in the awarding of County contracts and subcontracts. The article is scheduled to sunset on Dec. 31, 2023.
In the meantime, the County has engaged a consultant to conduct a disparity study to assess this program and the County’s contracting practices relative to minority owned businesses. Expedited Bill 37-23 seeks to extend the sunset date of Article XIV by one year to Dec. 31, 2024, to prevent the program from expiring while waiting for completion of the disparity study.
Workforce Development in Public Safety Careers
Briefing: The joint EC, ECON, PS and HHS Committee will receive a briefing about workforce development in public safety careers from Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) and Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) representatives. The County is committed to diversifying its workforce to better reflect the community it serves. MCPD and MCFRS are providing various pathways to help encourage interest and eventually employment with their respective departments. These programs are free, and in some cases paid, and are focused on local students and residents.
Workforce Development in Health and Human Services Careers
Review: The joint EC, ECON, PS and HHS Committee will discuss health and human services careers with Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), Montgomery College and Universities at Shady Grove representatives. The discussion is expected to include an overview of the most difficult to fill positions, including child welfare services workers, community health nurses, therapists, government assistance eligibility services workers and community services aides.
The Committee meeting schedule may change from time to time. View the current Council and Committee agendas, Council staff reports and additional information on items scheduled for Council review on the Council website .
Council and committee meetings are streamed live on the Council’s web page via YouTube and on Facebook Live and can be watched on County Cable Montgomery on Xfinity/RCN 6 HD 996/1056, Fios 30, and on the CCM live stream .
Release ID: 23-376
Media Contact: 240-777-7805, 240-777-7884
For updates and link to press release, see here: http://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Press_Detail.aspx?Item_ID=44323