BALTIMORE (February 24, 2003) – The Maryland Department of General Services (DGS) today announced a three-year extension of its contract with Science Applications International Corporation, which provides eMaryland Marketplace, a full-scale interactive procurement system for State agencies and local governments throughout Maryland. Registered vendor subscription fees cover contract costs.
Recognized nationally as a leader in eProcurement, eMaryland Marketplace has posted more than $270 million in business opportunities on its Web site since its inception three years ago. The system has grown to include more than 100 State and local government agencies; 500 trained government buyers; and more than 2,300 bidding vendors.
Maryland began moving its $8 billion in annual State purchasing to the Internet with the innovative G2B/B2G no-cost project that was launched March 8, 2000. Conceived by the DGS procurement division, eMaryland Marketplace (www.emarylandmarketplace.com) allows government agency buyers to establish real-time communications and business transactions with vendors in a paperless environment, producing savings for both the State and local government agencies and their vendors.
"Our system delivers savings for government organizations and our private sector vendors; both are realizing financial and resource efficiencies," said DGS Secretary Boyd K. Rutherford. "In addition to savings, eMaryland Marketplace makes government contracts more available and levels the playing field for participating vendors, regardless of their location or company size. It can be especially helpful for small businesses."
In addition to being the first fully functional state procurement platform to move beyond the development phase, eMaryland Marketplace was also the first to use a self-funding model. This strategy alone has saved the State millions in the development costs incurred by other states.
eMaryland Marketplace has won five national awards. The State’s on-ramp for electronic procurement was selected by E-Gov 2001 as one of 20 coveted Pioneer Awards for best practices in E-Government; Civic.com, a national magazine for state and local government IT professionals, presented the portal with its "Civic 50" award; the National Association of State Chief Administrators honored eMaryland Marketplace for excellence in procurement innovation; and the Council of State Governments (CSG) has recognized eMaryland Marketplace with a 2001 Innovations Award. Additionally, the CSG Eagle E-Government Awards Program presented eMaryland Marketplace with a 2001 Award of Excellence in the Best Executive Branch Web site category. The awards program recognized the system as a model for other e-government initiatives.
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CONTACT:
Dave Humphrey, Director of External Affairs
DGS Office of External Affairs
410-767-4652
E-MAIL: Dave.Humphrey@dgs.state.md.us
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