USER QUESTION | ANSWER |
What is eMMA? | eMaryland Marketplace Advantage (eMMA) is Maryland’s official eProcurement tool for public buyers to solicit bids/proposals, house and manage contracts, and for vendors to seek and respond to public contracting opportunities. |
What are the benefits of using eMMA? | eMMA is designed to benefit all users, including State and local officials, procurement professionals, suppliers, government leaders, and citizens through increased transparency, streamlined business processes, and advanced analytical reporting tools. |
What are the password requirements for eMMA? | NOTE: This only applies to users who do not access eMMA through connect.MD.gov. Your password must be a minimum of 12 characters in length and must contain at least one (1): • Uppercase letter • Lowercase letter • Special character |
Will my eMMA session “timeout” after a period of time? | Remember to click “SAVE” frequently as you work in eMMA. Your eMMA session will timeout after 20 minutes of inactivity. • If you logged in via emma.maryland.gov, return to that site and log-in with your username and password. • If you logged in via SSO, return to that site and click the eMMA logo. |
Who can I contact with questions? | You can reach us at emma.helpdesk@maryland.gov or submit a ticket through this portal. |
What commodity codes are used in eMMA? | The eMMA system uses the United Nations Standard Products and Services Codes (UNSPSC) structure which is a more universally accepted commodity code structure. If your commodity code is not found in eMMA, please contact us at emma.helpdesk@maryland.gov. You can learn more about UNSPSC codes by visiting www.unspsc.org. |
My user account has been disabled and I'm locked out of my account. How do I get back into eMMA? | Contact emma.helpdesk@maryland.gov to reinstate your access. |
When a contract is sent to an awardee in eMMA, which Vendor role gets the notice that the contract is there? | All contacts listed within the vendor profile are notified via system email. Only one needs to sign/acknowledge to move the workflow forward. If your vendor needs assistance accepting an award, send them this link. Accepting an Award in eMMA (Vendors) |
Is DocuSign still enabled for contract signatures in eMMA? | No. eMMA does not currently offer any electronic signature functionality. All document signatures must be handled outside of the eMMA system per agency requirement(s), and signed documents can then be uploaded and stored within eMMA. |
My approvers are not in eMMA so how do I get my contract posted? | Submit a ticket to us through this portal or email us at emma.helpdesk@maryland.gov to make the request. |
Why does the alert message ask for a Certificate of Standing and Tax Clearance document? | To comply with State regulations and procurement policy, eMMA is configured with alerts which require evidence that the Procurement Officer has performed checks to ensure the awardee vendor holds a good Certificate of Standing in the Business Express database and has passed a Tax Clearance check. |
How do I get the Certificate of Standing document? | Please check the status of your apparent awardee's standing at the Business Express database: https://egov.maryland.gov/businessexpress/entitysearch |
How do I access eMMA? | There are two ways to access eMMA depending on your email address: If you have an email address that ends with “@maryland.gov”, you will access eMMA via the connect.md.gov secure portal (aka, SecureAuth or Single Sign-on). You will find a link to the eMMA system on that platform when you log into your account (for G Suite or HUB Training). (The password is the same as your computer and email log on.) MDOT users will access eMMA via their Azure SSO. If you do not have an “@maryland.gov” email address, you will access eMMA with a username and password directly from the emma.maryland.gov webpage. For step-by-step instructions, click this link, How to Log in to eMMA |
How do I get my supervisor corrected on my profile? | Submit a ticket to us through this portal or email us at emma.helpdesk@maryland.gov to make the request. Please ensure your supervisor is also a user in the system. |
How do I get my approvers in the system? | Submit a ticket to us through this portal or email us at emma.helpdesk@maryland.gov to make the request. |
What do I do if a PO leaves my organization and I need access to their work? | Submit a ticket to us through this portal or email us at emma.helpdesk@maryland.gov to make the request. Prior to leaving their position, a PO can delegate their tasks to someone at the organization. If this is the case, you must still contact the helpdesk to ensure user security in the system. |
How do I skip the workflow? | Workflows are automated and designed to apply where applicable, including considering a user's organization and contract data inputs. If you believe the workflow is not moving correctly for you, please submit a ticket to us through this portal or email us at emma.helpdesk@maryland.gov. |
Why did the supervisor get notified for steps that belong to the Procurement officer? | Responsible parties get notifications and are expected to perform approval steps. If a PO's supervisor is made the responsible party they will get the notifications and must perform the steps. In addition, unattended workflow steps will escalate to a supervisor after several days. |
What happens if an amendment is made to a solicitation but the vendor does not update their response? | The response is not valid and will be deemed non-responsive. Vendors MUST respond to the most current 'Round' or Amendment of a Solicitation. |
How is the vendor notified that an amendment was made? Do they receive an email? | The PO will click the 'Send to Vendors' and 'Notify Commodity Vendors' butons in eMMA as part of the Amendment process; this generates an email notification of the Round/Amendment to a Vendor's admin and primary contacts. If Vendors have added the project in question to their 'My Solicitations', then the Amended version will also be visible to them from the My Solicitations page. Vendors will be asked to re-Acknowledge this new Round and will need to resubmit a response to this new Round version. |
Can you tell me the difference between what the Reference Price vs. the Unit Price means under the Pricing tab? | Reference price is a field to capture any internal government estimates for the cost of the product/service being purchased (your line item). It is NOT visible to the vendors. It allows the system to calculate savings of the vendor's proposed costs against your reference price. Vendors enter their bid/proposal response pricing in the Unit Price field for each line item you create. If entering line items for vendors to propose pricing to, POs must define what each 'unit of measure' (UOM) your product/service will be calculated as - e.g. price 'per lot' or 'each' or any of the other dropdown options. |
In preparing a new sourcing project in eMMA, regarding the Apparent Awardee selector fields at setup: Can these be changed at a later date if I were to enter NO into each of those categories now, as I'm preparing the IFB, not making an award yet? Is there a way to determine the approval path? | All buyers should have an estimate or general knowledge of the approximate value of their procurement and/or the agency-specific approvals required for the selection of an awardee. This early understanding should be used to populate the apparent awardee selection fields when setting up a Sourcing Project. The selections may be changed later, if needed. |
How do I ensure Small Procurement Cat 1 and Small Procurement Cat 2&3 Solicitations are public? | Solicitations under Small Procurement Cat 1 and Small Procurement Cat 2&3 are not automatically defaulted to be visible on the public portal. To make the solicitation visible on the public portal, please follow these steps when creating the new solicitation: 1. Navigate to “Prepare Solicitation” tab and click the “Setup” sub-tab (left navigation). 2. Click “Advanced Options” and put a checkmark in “Solicitation Visible to Public”. 3. Click Save. NOTE: If your solicitation is already open, you will need to create an Amendment, follow the steps above, and re-publish your solicitation. |
How do I get my solicitation in Open status? | Review the steps in the following QRG: Notify Vendors of a Solicitation and Publish. |
I need to delete a Round; what do I do? | Rounds in Draft status only may be deleted. Use the Other Actions button to delete your round. |
I can't access the financial proposals. How can I get to them and download them? | Review the steps in the following QRG: Open Technical and Financial Envelopes for a Solicitation |
My vendor submitted a bid but it is showing in an older round. How do I access it so it can be evaluated and awarded? | To access prior round submissions, use the Selected .Round drop-down field at the top of the Analyze & Award tab. |
How do I enter pre-proposal conference information? | Engage the Pre-Bid/Proposal Conference? checkbox on the Prepare Solicitation tab of a sourcing project and complete the fields that appear. |
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Modified on: Wed, 17 Sep, 2025 at 10:47 AM
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