ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Wes Moore today announced hundreds of millions of dollars in projected long-term taxpayer savings under the Moore-Miller Administration's government modernization initiative. The initiative,
which will save Maryland taxpayers up to $50 million in FY26 alone, is expected to save $250 million across procurement, IT, and vehicle fleet management over the next five years, in addition to more than $326 million in real estate savings over the next 20-25 years.
“While the federal government recklessly slashes budgets and lays off public servants, we are using data to save taxpayers money and modernize government in a targeted way,”
said Gov. Moore. “This announcement is only the beginning of our efforts. Together, we will continue to prioritize fiscal discipline and ensure we deliver essential services to all Marylanders, efficiently and effectively.”
Governor Moore launched the administration’s government modernization initiative by
executive order in January to save Maryland taxpayers money through operational cost savings across the state. With a focus on streamlining operations; reducing fragmentation; promoting best practices; and increasing accountability, the government modernization initiative team engaged in a comprehensive review of agency operational spending year over year.
Examining core functions of government—including procurement, IT, fleet management, and real estate—the team worked in partnership with multiple State agencies to identify potential savings backed by data validation. After gathering hundreds of data sets and meeting with teams across dozens of government agencies at multiple levels of government, the team identified both near-term and long-term savings, including:
$326 million in taxpayer savings over 20-25 years through the consolidation, relocation, or reconfiguration of state facilities. Beginning with a review of nine state-owned buildings located in Baltimore City, the Department of General Services performed a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis to vet various options for each building to identify optimal solutions to right-size the state’s real estate footprint and align operations with workforce needs.
“Baltimore is proud that so many State employees call Charm City home, and we’re grateful for the State’s investments to create safer, more efficient office spaces for them to work,”
said City of Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott. “These investments will complement the incredible growth we’re seeing in our city, including through our Downtown RISE initiative and major projects like Harborplace. Baltimore’s Renaissance is here, and we want private and public sector workers alike to be excited about everything our city has to offer.”
“Optimizing our downtown real estate assets is an essential component of our strategy to reimagine the potential of the heart of our city for residents, employees, business owners and the hundreds of thousands of visitors we welcome annually,”
said Downtown Partnership of Baltimore President Shelonda Stokes. “The governor’s plan to look critically at state-owned properties to ensure that they are being leveraged for optimal value and use is something we welcome. We’re grateful to Governor Moore and his Administration for this thoughtful, strategic and intentional approach as together we work to fuel the momentum underway throughout our city’s core and define a future of continued growth and vitality for the benefit of our city and entire state.”
In FY26, savings include:
$14 million in potential FY26 savings to be achieved in procurement by working with State employees to improve awareness, availability, and accountability for use of statewide contracts with best rates available to agencies. Examples include savings on shipping by standardizing delivery options and shifting spending on shipping to the existing statewide contract.
$30 million in potential FY26 savings for IT spending outside of the Maryland Department of Information Technology, to be achieved by eliminating underutilized technology, streamlining purchasing, or extending the useful life of IT assets. Examples include: termination of low and minimally-used mobile lines and legacy landlines; standardization of laptop specifications; and extending hardware refresh cycles.
The Maryland Department of Information Technology also identified
$16 million FY26 savings by centralizing statewide solutions for identity and access management, along with consolidating cybersecurity tools. Savings will be reinvested in other IT priorities.
$6 million in potential FY26 savings through consolidation of the State’s fleet through fewer vehicle purchases per year and reduction in maintenance and fuel costs. The Department of Budget and Management will continue to work with agencies to review the State’s fleet inventory, update fleet policies, and embed best practices.
“Our data-driven approach to modernizing state government operations is saving taxpayer dollars,”
said Chief Performance Officer Asma Mirza. “This is another way we’re improving the performance of state government to deliver results for Marylanders.”
The government modernization team will continue to implement any contractual measures or policy realignment necessary to realize the savings identified and will continue to work with agencies to identify additional savings.