The administration has proposed carving out 10 percent of state contracts for small businesses and forcing prime contractors -- often white-owned firms -- to name their minority subcontractors in their bids. Meanwhile, other lawmakers are advancing bills of their own that they say would make it easier for minority and other smaller firms to compete for state contracts.

Last week, Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele (R) defended the plan he has spearheaded on the administration's behalf before the House Health and Government Operations Committee. He argued that the Ehrlich administration's plan is a vital step forward toward making the procurement process fairer and more efficient, both for the state and for minority contractors.

Some committee members said they support the reform movement overall, but complained about tardiness of the administration's bills. The administration proposed the bills at the end of February, long after administration bills are expected.

As a result, with less than three weeks left in the legislative session, only one of the two administration bills has made it through the Senate, and neither arrived in time to receive a full hearing in the House committee. Some committee members said they are frustrated by the lack of time they have to consider the bills, and are reluctant to ram them through committee.

"Usually administration bills come in on time," said Del. Dan K. Morhaim (D-Dist. 11) of Owings Mills, chairman of the Government Operations subcommittee that oversees procurement proposals.

Morhaim said he made repeated requests to the administration this winter about when its proposals would come in.

Steele's bills stem from the recommendations of the governor's Minority Business Enterprise Reform Commission, which the lieutenant governor steered. Over the course of six months in 2003, the commission held hearings on the state's minority procurement program and in February declared the program broken, rife with abuses of the minority contractors and difficult for participants to navigate.

The Ehrlich administration has implemented about 30 of the commission's 50 recommendations through executive orders and management initiatives, but the result falls somewhat short of the commission's vision for the program.

The administration has passed, for example, on the commission's proposal to elevate the Office of Minority Affairs to a Cabinet-level department and make it a centralized "one-stop shop" for the Minority Business Enterprise program. The Minority Affairs office already has oversight authority over the program, but various components of it are administered through the Department of Transportation and other state agencies.

Shelonda Stokes of Lanham, vice chairwoman of Steele's commission, said she understands the administration's reasons for holding back, saying the commission did not fully understand the consequences of wholesale centralization when it made its recommendations.

For example, Stokes explained, the federal government fully funds the program's certification process as long as it stays in the Department of Transportation because of the highway and other federal projects the department administers.

"Our recommendations were made almost in a vacuum," she said. "They didn't put us in a box initially."

The Ehrlich administration also has hesitated to introduce new penalties to deter abuses of the minority procurement program, as the commission recommended, focusing instead on beefing up the Minority Affairs Office's powers to enforce existing rules.

Sharon R. Pinder, director of the Minority Affairs Office, said new "sticks" are not needed, as a number of the penalties suggested by the commission, such as contractor disbarment, are already part of the program, codified in state law. The real problem, she said, has been the lack of resources to monitor the program.

To that end, the administration has created an online "one-stop shop" for the program -- www.mdminoritybiz.com -- and has committed to strengthening the Minority Affairs Office's powers of oversight, doubling its funding and increasing its staff. One of the administration's legislative proposals would also elevate Pinder's job to the level of a special secretary in the Cabinet.

Steele told the House committee that requiring bidders to disclose their minority subcontractors in their bid packages will cure "contractor amnesia," which occurs when contractors "forget" their agreements with minority contractors after a contract is awarded.

Garland Williamson, a member of Steele's commission who also heads The Presidents' RoundTable in Baltimore, a coalition of more than 20 African-American businesses, was particularly enthusiastic about that part of the legislation.

"It's not the normal bait-and-switch kind of situation that was going on" in the procurement process, he said.

Steele also said that the 10 percent earmark for small businesses will force agencies to "unbundle" some of their giant contracts, which only large contractors can afford to pursue. The 10 percent earmark, he said, is over and above the state's goal of awarding 25 percent of contract dollars to minority businesses.

Steele said the decision to make it an earmark for small businesses, rather than solely for minority businesses, is an important one.

"This isn't just about minority businesses," he said, calling the administration "unapologetically" pro-business. "This is about all small businesses in the state."

Morhaim agreed that some minority business procurement bills are just plain good business bills, which will increase competition to the state's advantage. People forget, he said, that procurement accounts for about $7 billion of the state's $24 billion budget.

Morhaim has introduced several procurement reform bills of his own this session. One, a proposal to create a comprehensive directory of minority business subcontractors, has passed the House and is scheduled for a hearing today in the Senate.

Other procurement reforms that have already cleared the House include two from Del. Gareth E. Murray (D-Dist. 20) of Silver Spring. One would increase the number of Minority Business Enterprise participants by raising the personal net worth cap from $750,000 to $1.5 million; the other would crack down on contractors who abuse procurement procedures.

Morhaim said the late arrival of Steele's bills, which were introduced March 1, makes it harder for the committee to determine which elements are "creative" and which are "redundant," and to consider how the measures will affect the state's other small-business programs.

"Bill hearings are useful; in a full hearing we might have had testimony on the pro's and con's," Morhaim said. "The committee will do all it can, but we don't want to rush to make a poor decision."

John A. Hurson (D-Dist. 18) of Chevy Chase, chairman of House Health and Government Operations Committee, said the legislators and the administration are working in concert, making equal efforts on both sides to reform the program. But "the biggest problem is that it's late," he said. "I'd love to have more time with it. But we'll see what we can do."

Steele brushed aside those complaints.

"These are very straightforward bills," he said. "The bills aren't late ... Sure, they didn't get them the first or second week of session, but I've talked with the committee chairmen and they are fine with it."

Staff Writers Aruna Jain and Steven T. Dennis contributed to this report.