Board approves contract consolidations and reduced upset limits after projection errors; $11M engineering upset-limit approved
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Summary
The Board of Estimates approved a consolidated locksmith services upset limit after DGS revised an overprojection downward, and approved an $11 million upset-limit agreement with Atkins to support DPW wastewater and consent-decree work. Officials emphasized tighter assumptions, interagency collaboration and building in-house capacity.
Baltimore's Board of Estimates on Jan. 7 approved several procurement items tied to a citywide push to consolidate facilities contracts and tighten procurement oversight.
Department of General Services Director Barak Yatira explained that DGS is consolidating locksmith services used by multiple city agencies into a single contract authority to reduce duplicative procurements and improve market leverage. An initial projection that produced a much larger upset limit had been revised downward after agency engagement; DGS said the corrected upset limit is now below $1.5 million and Director Yatira apologized for the earlier overprojection and outlined plans for better front-end collaboration with agencies.
City Administrator and board members stressed that upset limits are not guaranteed expenditures but an upper authorization and urged accurate projections because high upset limits create poor public perception even if funds remain controlled by agency budgets. Comptroller Bill Henry and other board members pressed for improved methodology and monitoring; procurement staff and the city administrator said future consolidations will include clearer assumptions and collaborative budgeting with user agencies.
The board also approved SB2514324, an $11 million, three-year upset-limit agreement with Atkins (professional services) to provide regulatory and engineering support for wastewater and consent-decree work. DPW said the larger AECOM engagement was unbundled into several smaller contracts to increase flexibility and match firm specialties. Board members raised a related point about recruiting and retaining in-house engineering capacity and discussed salary-scale modernization and hiring pathways as part of a long-term effort to reduce reliance on contractors.
Both the locksmith consolidation and the Atkins agreement were approved; staff will return with improved monitoring and contract-level reporting.