(BALTIMORE – April 26, 2023) – Let Robert Harrington tell it, there is something for MBEs to be grateful for: the unbundling of City contracts.
“The City is going to take multimillion-dollar contracts and break them down into smaller contracts so that small and women businesses can bid on contracts,” said Harrington, CEO of RE Harrington, a major underground utility company based in Baltimore.
Harrington added, “For over 15 years, I have been lobbying the City to make this happen.”
Yesterday’s “Meet the Primes” business contracting event is an annual effort by the City of Baltimore’s Department of Public Works to help create opportunities for Baltimore’s small and minority-owned businesses.
Too often, these smaller businesses have had little to no chance of winning a spot on contracts won by large, white companies.
The aim of Mayor Brandon Scott is to create opportunities for all, especially in a 74% Black and brown city. Advocates, like Harrington and Wayne Frazier of the Maryland-Washington Minority Companies Association, have used their platforms and access to pressure elected officials for this level of progress.
