BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — A recent report from the Office of the Inspector General reveals that the Baltimore County Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) unit reportedly squandered over $737,000 on the PRiSM software system between March 2008 and April 2025.
This report continues the investigation led by Inspector General Kelly Madigan, which commenced in 2023. The initial findings uncovered fraudulent actions involving a roofing contractor linked to a subcontract agreement with a certified Minority Business Enterprise.
Following the first report, an internal document emerged raising alarms about the county’s decision to award another contract to the same roofing contractor while fraud investigations were still ongoing.
A subsequent report published in November 2024 further outlined additional fraudulent activities by this roofing contractor and noted that the MBE had failed to meet compliance requirements.
The recent report highlighted compatibility problems between the PRiSM system and Workday, the county’s comprehensive financial and human resource management platform.
The investigation revealed that the MBE utilized a “workaround” involving Excel spreadsheets to address these issues. However, the sheer volume of transactions hindered the MBE’s ability to effectively manage compliance regarding MBE contracts.
In the report released on Wednesday, Madigan, who is preparing to transition from the Baltimore County Office of the Inspector General to become the Inspector General for Howard County, examined 350 active contracts with MBE goals from January 1, 2022, to March 31, 2025.
It was found that nearly half of these contracts lacked any compliance documentation, indicating that the MBE unit had failed to perform compliance checks on those agreements.
Among those that did have some form of compliance documentation, only a small fraction had files that seemed to meet adequate standards.
Furthermore, the Office of the Inspector General discovered that Baltimore County had paid a vendor a total of $737,593.50 from 2008 to 2025 for the PRiSM software and related add-ons.
The PRiSM system was intended to assist the MBE in ensuring compliance for these contracts, but due to the compatibility challenges, it was never smoothly integrated or fully utilized as originally planned by the MBE unit.
This lack of compatibility has been identified as a crucial reason behind the MBE unit’s failure to carry out its obligations properly.
According to the report, it was confirmed that taxpayer money exceeding $737,000 had been wasted by Baltimore County.
In light of the report’s findings, County Administrative Officer D’Andrea Walker announced that the county’s purchasing division issued a total of eight cure letters for noncompliance concerning commitments made with minority and women-owned business enterprises, along with two penalty letters. These actions resulted in more than $300,000 in fines.
The full details of the report can be accessed below:
