On Wednesday, October 28, 2020, The Baltimore Metropolitan Council’s (BMC) Baltimore Regional Cooperative Purchasing Committee (BRCPC) co-hosted the 12th Annual Meet the Primes event. This virtual procurement outreach event connects small and minority owned businesses (MBE/SBE) to prime contract bidders.
The event welcomed over 500 small and minority business participants.
Organized by Baltimore County, Meet the Primes utilized virtual training and presentation sessions to provide information to attendees. Participants reviewed updates in the financial systems for solicitations, submitting bids and obtaining purchase orders for new and existing vendors, as well as hosted discussions for potential vendors to learn about the various business resources including the BRCPC.
Small business representatives also met with select government agencies and prime companies during pre-scheduled one-to-one introduction meetings. These meetings presented opportunities for attendees to present their products and services directly to the procurement officials, buyers and decision makers who may be interested in their offerings.
In addition to the one-to-one sessions and virtual training and presentation sessions, the event also utilized business listings to display contact information creating a database of participating small and minority owned businesses.
This event presents unique opportunities for small and minority owned businesses, empowering those in our region to build new partnerships and access the buying capacity of our governments.
We are hopeful that we can return in-person for next year’s Meet the Primes event, scheduled for Wednesday, October 13, 2021.