Comptroller Brooke E. Lierman joined Lt. Governor Aruna Miller and Treasurer Dereck Davis in approving  82 initiatives, representing a total expenditure of $271 million during a meeting of the Board of Public Works. 

During Wednesday’s meeting, Comptroller Lierman asked Maryland Department of Labor Secretary, Portia Wu, about a five-month contract extension with consulting firm Accenture to provide additional call center agents in anticipation of an influx of unemployment insurance claims from federal workers laid off by the Trump administration. 

 

Comptroller Lierman noted that the original contract with Accenture began during the COVID-19 pandemic under the previous administration. “[The contract] has now ballooned to nearly 1500% of where it was originally, and I believe it was even a sole source originally. It just started off as a very problematic contract.” Comptroller Lierman added that by repeatedly extending the contract, “we are now compounding the challenge here and the damage.” 

 

Secretary Wu explained that the contract has been drastically scaled back, and the goal is to add 20 more state staff to the current team of 100 and train other individuals across the agency to answer phones to meet increases in demand.  

 

Comptroller Lierman acknowledged the challenges facing the Department of Labor and stressed that the state must ensure that contracts are a good use of public resources. 

 

“I also don’t want us to use this federal-government-made disaster to waste taxpayer dollars and for all of us, I think we are understanding the fiscal situation in the state,” Comptroller Lierman said. “We have to make sure we move on from contracts like this that were not competitively bid and frankly just are seemingly expensive.”  

 

In all, the Board of Public Works approved 82 items, representing a total State expenditure of $271,046,884.95, including:? ?

• Grant agreements for 20 recipients for 23 projects located in 10 counties and Baltimore City with a total value of $69,555,000. 

• Nine items awarding $27,390,085.55 to prime certified small business primes. 

• Six items awarding $19,596,464 to certified minority business enterprise primes. 

• Nine items were awarded with established participation goals for minority business enterprises. 

• One item awarded with established participation goals for veteran-owned small business enterprises. ? 

The next meeting of the Board of Public Works is April 23, 2025.?