The Baltimore Inspector General has referred a city contractor to law enforcement for prosecution after an investigation showed the company falsified payments to minority and women-owned businesses that were required by its agreement with the city.
The contractor, which is not named in a report issued Tuesday by Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming, was awarded a city contract to perform construction services in 2018. The total value of the contract has not been specified.
As part of the agreement, the contractor was required to refer a percentage of the overall work to minority-owned and women-owned businesses. Failing to comply with the requirements can lead to administrative and criminal penalties, according to Baltimore’s city charter.
According to a form filed by the contractor at the completion of its work, the company paid $350,000 to one minority-owned subcontractor and $162,583 to a second. A woman-owned subcontractor purportedly received $120,000. None of the three businesses were identified by the report.
An investigation found the first minority-owned business received only $17,000 from the contractor and reported doing no work on the contract. The business owner also denied signing the form submitted by the contractor. The second minority-owned business said it received $177,000, slightly more than what was reported by the contractor.
The women-owned business said it received $50,000 from the contractor, and further investigation showed the business received an additional $17,000 from the contractor. Those payments combined are $53,000 less than what was reported by the contractor. An additional payment of $40,090 was also made but for work on a contract unrelated to the city, according to the report.
The contractor did not cooperate with the investigation, according to the report. The matter was turned over to law enforcement and referred to the city’s law department to review for civil, administrative or criminal penalties.
Cumming said she could not comment on the specifics of the investigation, but said her office is working closely with the city’s Minority and Women’s Business Opportunity Office to hold accountable contractors who do not meet requirements.
“This is the second or third one of these types of cases we’ve had,” Cumming said. “We’re taking a very close look at this because it is such an important part of how Baltimore City operates.”
Cumming said she was encouraged to have “new law enforcement partners” to consider such cases including Attorney General Anthony Brown, U.S. Attorney Erek Barron and Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates. Both Brown and Bates were sworn in this month. Barron has held his position since late 2021.
