Maryland officials told the Health and Government Operations Committee that a federal interim final rule (IFR) for DBE and ACDBE programs, issued Oct. 3, took effect immediately and prompted multiple follow‑up guidance documents that have left certified firms and state certifying authorities scrambling.

Acting Secretary Walter Simmons said the IFR came into effect the day it was released and that federal agencies issued additional FAQs on Oct. 24, Nov. 3 and Dec. 1, forcing the state to rework documents and processes multiple times in a matter of weeks. "The interim final rule for the DBE and ACDB program was released on October 3. In traditional format where you have an implementation period, that didn't happen. It went effective in the day it was released," Simmons told the committee.

Secretary McKinnon said Maryland has a certification backlog and that the state procured 20 contractors (approved by the Board of Public Works) to support re‑evaluation and certification work. "We have about, 9,000 businesses that are DBEs and ACDBEs combined," McKinnon said, emphasizing the scale of the effort to reprocess files and the effect on federally funded contract goal setting until reevaluation is complete.

Simmons and McKinnon told legislators that until the state completes reevaluation of firms under the revised federal guidance, the state cannot set DBE goals on federally funded contracts. Simmons also cited a federal estimate that updating the DBE program could reduce DBE eligibility nationally by about 50 percent; he said Maryland will have to measure the potential impact on tax base and employment.

Both officials described an ongoing effort with the Office of the Attorney General to design a reevaluation framework and a communications plan that will include targeted mailings and FAQs for affected firms. Simmons warned that frequent federal changes could require repeated re‑communications to thousands of businesses, complicating outreach and operational timelines.

No formal vote or decision was taken in the committee hearing; legislators questioned staff about resources and asked for future briefings and clearer timelines for recertification work.