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.

BMC staff members Zach Kaufman and Shawn Kimberly spoke at the virtual Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO) 2020 Annual Conference on Thursday, October 29th.

Their presentation explained the development, purpose and effectiveness of the Baltimore Regional Recovery Dashboard, launched on Wednesday, June 17, to aid local and state partners as they work to assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The dashboard includes data analysis and visualizations across BMC’s various areas of focus including housing, transportation, and workforce development.

The presentation focused on the data and methodology utilized to construct the data visualizations, information on how our partners in the region are using it, and next steps for expanding the dashboard.

Zach Kaufman is a transportation planner at BMC. His responsibilities include managing the Baltimore Region Transportation Improvement Program. He also works on labor market data analysis, creating products and reports for workforce development stakeholders in the region.

Shawn Kimberly is a senior transportation planner at BMC. He works with the Cooperative Forecasting Group to develop demographic forecasts vital to BRTB transportation planning activities. He also works on labor market analysis and workforce development reports and products.

The AMPO Annual Conference is the premiere event for MPOs to learn and network. Experts teach and offer a combination of presentations and hands-on learning opportunities.

BMC looks forward to next year's conference.