By Kyle Erway
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
The Maryland Board of Public Works extracted a promise on Wednesday from the Chief Procurement Officer to provide within two weeks a detailed report of all the state and federal spending for COVID-19 pandemic relief.
“Transparency is important to public procurement because that’s where trust lives,” CPO Robert Gleason assured the board. “It’s a journey we’re on. I wish I could get there tomorrow.”
Gleason, who has held the position since 2017, offered the board much-needed reassurance that the procurement team understands the importance of the emergency report and why the public deserves to have access to it.
Gleason, the state health department, and others have been criticized for failing to submit paperwork during the hectic months of the coronavirus pandemic that documents how much federal and state relief went to Maryland residents and small businesses, how much was spent for supplies, what vendors were used for what products and how much federal and state relief went to scammers. The emergency procurement procedures first got underway in the spring of 2020.
The Board of Public Works oversees the state’s Emergency Procurement Process, which refers to steps Maryland government officials take to obtain emergency supplies, personnel, and everything else needed to survive a major state crisis, such as a severe natural disaster or a global health pandemic such as the COVID-19 virus.
Funding for the supplies comes from taxpayer money and when an emergency procurement procedure is enacted, the state’s Procurement Office is required by law to send a report within 45 days to the Board of Public Works, clearly stating what items, products, personnel, etc. were procured and how much money was allocated for each.
Board members grilled Gleason to explain the delays with the Emergency Procurement Report.
Comptroller Peter Franchot demanded better leadership from the Chief Procurement Officer.
“It’s not rocket science, it’s your leadership,” Franchot told Gleason. “You say to the agencies ‘if you have to wait a year to alert the Board of Public Works about an emergency procurement, you’re not going to be on procurements too much longer after that.’”
Franchot explained that “the law says 45 days and it is simply inexcusable at this point to be getting a year and more into this thing and to have these agencies treat these things [procurement reports] as a low priority.”
“It’s a significant threat to the authority of the board if it’s allowed to be kicked down the highway,” asserted Franchot.
Treasurer Nancy Kopp explained that an Emergency Procurement Report is an important document the Board of Public Works must obtain to maintain “transparency so taxpayers can see for themselves and know with unmitigated confidence that their tax money is actually going where government officials say it’s going.”
“This is not just some report,” Kopp said. “This is how we ensure transparency in the procurement process. Through this report, they [taxpayers] know where their money is going.”
Gleason defended the delay.
“[We’ve been] trying to find materials, goods, set-up alternate care sites and hospitals, and create a team of healthcare workers, so there was a lot going on,” Gleason replied.
Gov. Larry Hogan agreed with board members that the procurement team must get better with sending out the “Emergency Procurement Reports in a timelier fashion” but stressed that the board should understand the kind of tense pressure the procurement team was under last spring “during the darkest days of the pandemic.”
The pandemic forced all state officials and frontline workers to focus on acquiring massive supplies and drugs, finding buildings and health care facilities, and creating strategies to get the services to Maryland residents.
“This has only happened once before over 100 years ago,” Hogan said. “We had more emergency [procurement] contracts [due to the pandemic] over a several month period than we did in the last 50 years added together and people were working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and they were trying to procure desperately needed supplies that were going to keep people alive.”
Hogan added, “Frankly, did they drop the ball because they didn’t stop what they were doing to fill out some important paperwork? Yes, they did. But I think they would argue they just didn’t have time to do it, but they are catching up.”