On Monday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the Michigan Jobs First executive directive at Lecom Utility Contractors in Roseville to revamp the state's purchasing policies to ensure that the state awards contracts to companies that create good-paying jobs in Michigan and are good stewards of the state. Currently, only 70 percent of state contracts are awarded to in-state businesses.
"Michigan is home to the hardest working people and best businesses in the world, and our state should work to ensure that more of our Michigan tax dollars support Michigan workers and businesses at every opportunity," Whitmer said. "We want Michigan to be a home for opportunity for everyone, which begins with supporting businesses that provide fair wages and good benefits. This executive directive will strengthen our commitment to these priorities and bring the greatest possible benefit to Michigan's businesses, workers, and families."
Executive Directive 2019-15 expands the list of factors used to determine whether a bid from a potential supplier would provide the best value to the state. Under this new directive, the state must also take into account the overall economic impact of the potential supplier's bid on Michigan businesses and workers, the wages and benefits offered by the supplier to its workers, the supplier's track record of labor and environmental compliance, and the supplier's commitment to economically-disadvantaged zones.
In addition to expanding best value factors, the executive directive also ensures that Michigan businesses receive the full preference to which they are entitled under law when the State makes its purchasing decisions.
"Across Macomb County and the great state of Michigan, there are thousands of incredible businesses with innovative products and outstanding services," said Macomb County Executive Mark A. Hackel. "It makes sense for the state to prioritize our homegrown job creators and I applaud this effort. Our business development team will engage Macomb County companies and take advantage of the Michigan Jobs First executive directive."
Under the state's previous procurement process, the Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB) only used the following factors to make a best value determination: price, quality, transition costs, experience, market share, timeliness, and agreement to terms. The new directive will still take into account these factors, but will also include new factors in its determination, such as wages, benefits, labor and environmental track record, and location in economically-disadvantaged zones to weigh a business's overall impact.
As part of Whitmer's efforts to increase transparency, an annual report will be generated by DTMB on the results of this directive to determine its overall economic impact for Michigan working people and businesses.
In 2018, the State of Michigan awarded 8,813 contracts for a value of $2.14 billion.
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