Executive Staffing Firm

The Maryland Health Benefit Exchange is requesting proposals for executive recruitment services to hire an Executive Director under RFP BPM055640, with proposals due March 16, 2026 at 10:00 AM EST — note that Amendment #1 moved the deadline from March 31 to March 16, and a pre-proposal conference was held March 11 at 1:00 PM.

Offerors must demonstrate a minimum of five years of professional experience providing executive-level recruitment and placement services, supported by verifiable references from the past five years. The MHBE serves over 250,000 individual health members, 61,000 dental members, and 1.1 million Medicaid members annually; the Executive Director position is unique among state-based health exchanges and requires specific knowledge of rate setting, insurance carriers, federal and state law, consumer assistance, financial management, and information technology. The position carries an advertised salary range as of July 2025 of $192,018 to $362,977 annually and requires a Bachelor's degree minimum, with a Master's degree in Public Health, Public Administration, Business Administration, Public Policy, or J.D. strongly preferred, plus 10 years of high-level health insurance industry experience and 5 years as a supervisor or manager.

The contract is a firm fixed-price engagement with an anticipated three-month term from award date. The MHBE intends a single award and will not use federal funding or invoke Small Business Reserve designation. Deliverables include an advertising and recruitment plan, applicant screening and ranking, no fewer than three qualified candidates for board interviews, interview question and scoring matrix development, and interview scheduling. Place of performance is 750 East Pratt Street, 6th Floor, Baltimore, Maryland. Questions were due March 9, 2026 at 10:00 AM. Technical merit will be weighted more heavily than price in the evaluation. Proposals must be submitted in two separate volumes through eMMA — Technical Proposal as a searchable Adobe PDF and Financial Proposal as a price form spreadsheet — with all pricing fully loaded to include direct and indirect costs.