Skip to main content

Gov. Whitmer proclaims March as Procurement Month in Michigan

Gov. Whitmer has proclaimed March 2023 as Procurement Month in Michigan. The goal of Procurement Month is to recognize the work and contributions of public purchasing professionals, who serve an essential function within state government by acquiring the goods and services essential to state operations.

The Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget's Procurement Services is the State of Michigan's central purchasing office and sets purchasing policy, establishes high dollar contracts, and works closely with purchasing professionals in other departments. The state’s procurement team also hosts a variety of other services during their day-to-day responsibilities, including training, contract monitoring, and certification to ensure that the state and local governments get the best value for taxpayers and remain a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars.

There is a growing emphasis within the State of Michigan to not just spend smart, but to spend equitably. Stemming from two executive directives including ED 2023-01, the procurement team is going all in on developing staff, building internal tools, and improving processes to increase spend with Geographically Disadvantaged Business Enterprises. An earlier initiative, the Michigan Supplier Community – or MiSC for short – was launched in early 2019 to also help diversify state spending. MiSC is an innovative program that allows for getting direct quotes from eligible businesses for simple procurements that fall under a $500K threshold.

In addition, Procurement Services manages the award winning MiDEAL program. MiDEAL allows local units of government and other public entities to purchase goods and services via the state’s contracts for a nominal annual fee. This lets them leverage the State of Michigan’s buying power and procurement staff expertise, which makes it easier for cities, counties, and schools to get what they need to operate day-to-day. For instance, 477 MiDEAL members just bought road salt for next winter from the state contract.