April News

April News

We are proud to say that in the month of April, AHCC provided two highly educational presentations. Howard County Community College, an AHCC supporter, graciously donated space at their Charles Ecker Business School for our Wells Fargo Bank presentation, our Platinum Corporate Alliance Partner, led by Meylin Doram, Business Banking Specialist and Courtney Deramus, Wells Fargo at Work Program Manager, who enlightened us all on Wells Fargo Works for Small Business.

This is a state of the art on-line system for small business that works with you to form your business plan while integrating personalized options to help your business navigate through tough decisions to make the right choices about location, competitive strategy and more. You have to check out their Competitive Intelligence Tool. This tool wowed the attendees. It helps you:

• ”Compare your business to others in your industry, locally and nationwide”
• ”Map the location of competitors, suppliers, and customers”
• ”Find the best places to advertise using advanced filter, such as household income and education level”

Did you know that Wells Fargo:

• Is America’s #1 lender to small business for more than a decade (for loans under $1 million)
• Is American’s #1 SBA 7(a) lender by both units and dollars for the 2016 federal fiscal year
• Invested more that $475 million in nonprofit microfinance/small business lenders nationwide that help self employed, low-and moderate-income people start or expand their business in rural and urban communities
• Started a Diverse Community Capital program that is committing $50 million in lending capital and $25 million in grants to Community Development Financial Institutions that serve and lend to small businesses”

For more information on what Wells Fargo can do to help you access capital and be smarter about your business, please contact Meylin via Meylin.A.Doram@wellsfargo.com and Courtney via  Courtney.Deramus@wellsfargo.com.

Keep an eye on our calendar for upcoming webinars and events.

Events

On April 26, AHCC hosted a webinar on Procore. Procore is the number one construction management software having 2 million users around the world.  Alan Paquette of Construction AnalytiX and Jeff Shannon of Mission Critical secured exclusive rights to sell Procore at prices that can’t be beat. And, on top of the best pricing available, they are providing training, guidance, project and business support, and their sought-after consulting expertise to help you maximize your profits.

Membership

As a reminder, for new AHCC members as well as renewing members, this year the cost of your membership will include four free sessions.  With the introduction of webinars, our costs are reduced and we are thrilled to pass these savings on to you our members.   Please click here for more information regarding memberships.

While we are introducing the new format of webinars, all members continue to have the option of attending sessions in person assuming the presenter is able to be on-site.  In addition, many of our members expressed the need for the presentations to be in both English and Spanish so their key employees and spouses can attend.  We will gladly comply, and any translation needs can be accommodated on an individual basis.  For those who request it, presentation material will be emailed in advance in Spanish.

In an effort to expand our reach, we are asking all of our members and friends to click on our social medial feeds below and like & share our AHCC posts.   This will assist us in growing our network but more importantly enable us to educate more individuals with our programs.

Member News

Luis Guiterriez of Dream Management and AHCC member, testified how not having a proper bond form prevented his company from gaining an award on a five-year transportation contract. While Dream Management was low bidder on this nearly $4 million contract, MDOT cancelled the award and could not find resolution to meeting the surety’s needs in correcting the deficiencies of the only bond form allowed in COMAR.  Due in large part to Luis’ testimony, the bill passed. WAY TO GO LUIS!!

Soon, the State of Maryland will produce a bond form that is annually renewable for multi-year contracts.

Legislation

April was a busy month for AHCC’s Karen Barbour.  She spent much time in Annapolis advocating for three bills, two of which will be advocated again in the 2018 session.

Senate Bill 778

Procurement – Payment Security – Construction Contracts—Sponsored by Senators Hershey and Ready

While the Code of Maryland (COMAR) requires a 100% performance and payment bond for projects $100,000 and higher, the Annotated Code of Maryland does not and permits the ability to lower the payment bond to 50%.  COMAR should not top or trump the law, a conflict that SB 778 tried to correct.

If a prime contractor does not pay its subcontractor, a subcontractor can lien the project if it is a privately-owned project.  If a public project, a subcontractor can only lien the payment bond posted by the prime contractor to the public body.  If the payment bond is only 50%, many subcontractors’ lien rights will be forfeited.

Karen informed the Senate that when a performance bond is issued, the payment bond is FREE.  There is no additional or less premium cost if the payment bond is at 100% or 50% of the contract value.  The Senate did not approve the bill.  The Maryland Association of Counties did not want to be included in the bill.  However, it is the counties that will often require a 50% payment bond.  MACO is under the opinion that they will save money on bond premium by requiring a payment bond less than 100% even though evidence was provided to them to the contrary.  Their idea of saving money is at the expense of many subcontractors.

Senators Bates, Kagan, Salling, and Simonaire supported the bill, while Senators Conway, Pinsky, Nathan-Pulliam, Robinson, Waugh and Young did not.  This bill passed the House in 2016. It failed the Senate in 2016, as well.  Associated General Contractors of Maryland was in full support of the bill and provided both oral and written testimony.  AGC of Md and AHCC will find out what gave rise to the unfavorable votes and will tackle this bill again next session.

Senate Bill 1127

Procurement Contracts – Disclosure to Secretary of State – Beneficial Ownership Sponsored by Senator Hershey and Ready.

This bill gained little momentum this session.  Current law says that a Beneficial Owner is one having 5% ownership.  The law also says that an officer of a company must report all Beneficial Owners and report projects the company secures with the State if valued at $200,000 and over. The law does not define “officer.”  If an officer fails to make the report, he/she can be fined $10,000 and be charged criminally with a misdemeanor, if convicted. What if you are an officer but own no ownership interest?  What if you have no control over the company, sign contracts or negotiate them?  How do you know what to report?

This bill was to bring Maryland’s definition of Beneficial Ownership to meet the Federal standards. The Federal standard says that a Beneficial Owner must have 25% or more ownership in a company and exercise control by signing for bank lines of credit, contracts, etc.  on behalf of its employer/company.

SB 1127 will gain better legs in 2017 with help from our lobbyist group, Bellamy and Genn Group, LLC.

SUCCESS – Senate Bill 225-Procurment-Security Requirements – Forms – Sponsored by Senator Robinson – PASSED UNANIMOUSLY!!!

Senate Bill 245

This bill established a new surety bond form for term contracts. At present, there is only one bond form in COMAR that supports fixed priced contracts. The State of Maryland often has five-year contract for window cleaning, transportation services, snow removal, etc.  While the State’s contract language allows for the bonds to be presented on an annual basis, the State will not allow any surety to modify their existing bond. Many sureties will not support five-year contracts unless the bond form agrees with the contract language. No surety will provide a bond for a small business that spans five years in duration, unless the contractor posts collateral with the surety—which rarely any small business can do.