Procurement 101
Procurement 101
Procurement is how a technical recommendation becomes a thing the agency can actually use. For deployed teams in Maryland, the first procurement job is not writing a perfect scope. It is naming the lane early enough that the timeline, security review, and owner are visible.
Start with the agency procurement officer. For IT, DoIT says the first step is to work with the agency procurement officer and send an intake ticket so DoIT can help navigate contract options.
The lanes
| Lane | Use it when | What it enables | Planning assumption |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise agreement | The State or agency already has usable terms and licenses. | Access without a new competition, if the tier and agency boundary fit. | Days to a few weeks after owner approval. |
| Existing contract | A current vendor contract already covers the product or work. | A contract action instead of a brand-new procurement. | Weeks to months; treat modifications as real procurement work. |
| RFI | The team lacks enough market knowledge to write the solicitation. | Market research, vendor feedback, better scope language. | Often 2-6 weeks; it does not award anything. |
| COTS PORFP | The product is commercial off-the-shelf software, maintenance, installation, or training under COTS. | A purchase order through eligible master contractors. | DoIT recommends 21 days for responses; plan 3-6 weeks plus approvals and security. |
| TORFP | The master contract exists, but vendors must propose a complete solution or services approach. | A task order under a master contract. | Plan in months, not weeks. |
| RFP | No faster vehicle fits, or the State needs best value across technical and price proposals. | A full competitive sealed proposal process. | Plan 6-12+ months; use agency history for the real number. |
| IFB | Requirements are precise and award can go to the lowest responsive, responsible bidder. | Competitive sealed bidding for clear specs. | Maryland’s manual says IFB award can be 6-9 months from conception. |
Notice that the vehicle is not the whole schedule. Budget, approvals, security review, ATO, and handoff ownership still run beside it.
Terms to know
| Term | Plain meaning | Why deployed teams care |
|---|---|---|
| Procurement officer | The State official who can run and bind the procurement. | Program and engineering staff cannot substitute for this role. |
| eMMA | Maryland’s procurement portal for solicitations, vendor registration, and awards. | Vendors and opportunities move through this system. |
| DoIT intake | The IT procurement starting point for contract-option help. | It prevents teams from guessing the wrong vehicle. |
| BPO | Blanket Purchase Order number for a master contract or statewide vehicle. | This is the number procurement uses to ride the vehicle. |
| Master contract | A pre-qualified vendor pool with already-set terms. | It shortens the path, but it does not remove competition or approvals. |
| Master contractor | A vendor or reseller awarded under a master contract. | Only eligible master contractors can respond in that lane. |
| Secondary competition | The smaller competition run under a master contract. | PORFP, TORFP, and RFR are all secondary competition forms. |
| RFI | Request for Information. | Use it for market research; it is not an award path. |
| RFP | Request for Proposals. | Use it when best value matters and evaluation needs technical judgment. |
| IFB | Invitation for Bids. | Use it when the State can award on price against clear specs. |
| PORFP | Purchase Order Request for Proposals. | Usually the faster master-contract path for fixed-price products or catalog items. |
| TORFP | Task Order Request for Proposals. | Use it for a complete solution or services under a master contract. |
| RFR | Request for Resumes. | Use it when the need is a temporary labor resource. |
| COTS | Commercial off-the-shelf software. | Good for licenses and maintenance; not custom buildout. |
| ADEPT | Agile Digital Experience Product Transformation. | Use it for digital services work such as agile development, human-centered design, product management, discovery, and accessibility. |
| Agile Teams | Statewide Agile Resources and Teams 2024. | Use it for agile resources, agile team bundles, and IT management consulting through rotational work orders. |
| Enterprise agreement | Existing statewide or agency terms for a product family. | The fastest lane when the license, data, and agency boundary fit. |
| PO | Purchase Order. | The binding order that lets the selected contractor deliver. |
| BPW | Board of Public Works. | Large awards or modifications can need agenda time and approval. |
| ATO | Authority to Operate / security approval path. | Procurement can finish before the system is allowed to run. |
Notice the pattern: procurement terms are delivery constraints. Each term tells you who can respond, what can be bought, and how much calendar risk remains.
COTS PORFP guardrails
COTS PORFP is attractive because it can be fast, but it is not a magic wrapper around any software idea.
- One PORFP should stay inside the allowed COTS functional areas: software, installation/training tied to software, or maintenance.
- DoIT says only one manufacturer is allowed per COTS PORFP.
- Installation and training cannot be purchased alone under COTS.
- COTS installation is configuration so the software works in the agency environment, not custom enhancements.
- If services are the real work, look into ADEPT or Agile Teams.
How to talk about timing
Use timing ranges as planning assumptions, not promises. The honest sentence is: “This lane usually takes X, but we will plan from this agency’s last three actual timelines.”
| Question | Better answer |
|---|---|
| How long does a PORFP take? | DoIT recommends 21 days for responses; plan 3-6 weeks for the procurement motion, then add approvals and security. |
| How long does an RFI take? | Usually a few weeks; it buys information, not software. |
| How long does an RFP take? | Plan in months. Maryland’s manual says IFB can be 6-9 months, and RFP can take longer because of evaluation committees and best-value review. |
| Can we skip procurement if a master contract exists? | No. A master contract gives a faster lane; it still requires the right secondary competition, approvals, and award file. |
| Can security wait until award? | Usually no. Start the category-level ATO and security review as soon as the likely product class is known. |
Notice that every answer separates the procurement lane from the total calendar. That is the habit that keeps engineering from promising a date procurement cannot support.
What to leave behind
Every procurement should make the next one easier.
- Actual dates: RFI/PORFP/RFP draft, issue, questions, close, award, PO, ATO start, ATO decision, go-live.
- Named contacts: procurement officer, security reviewer, budget owner, contract owner, agency owner.
- Vehicle decision: enterprise agreement, COTS PORFP, TORFP, RFP, existing contract, or other path.
- Scope language that worked, scope language that got rejected, and why.
- Vendor facts: who can quote, who cannot, which boundary or tier was included, and what pricing unit drove the quote.
If the next deployed team cannot reuse it, the lesson is not captured yet.
Official references
- Maryland DoIT Statewide Contracts - DoIT’s IT contract hub and intake guidance.
- Maryland DoIT ADEPT - digital services vehicle for agile development, HCD, product management, discovery, and accessibility.
- Maryland Statewide Agile Resources and Teams - agile resources and team support through rotational work orders.
- Maryland DoIT COTS 2012 - COTS functional areas and service limits.
- Maryland DoIT COTS PORFP Procedures and Templates - PORFP process guidance and response-period recommendation.
- Maryland Procurement Manual: Need Identification - RFI as a planning tool.
- Maryland Procurement Manual: Pre-Solicitation - RFP, IFB, master contract, TORFP, PORFP, and RFR definitions.
See also
- Engineering Intro to Deployed Teams - the operating model this page supports.
- 25 Questions for Ground Truth for an Intervention - the required discovery-end questions before procurement hardens a recommendation.
- Government Runs on Procurement, Not Engineering - why procurement is part of the operating model.
- Approved Software in Maryland - current state of what’s already cleared.
- Maryland Master Contracts and Carahsoft - how the statewide vehicles fit together.
- Maryland Procurement - process, thresholds, and procurement methods.