6 days ago
Baltimore's website redesign is two years late and costing $1 million more than anticipated
Baltimore's city website redesign is costing taxpayers more than $2 million and is nearly two years behind its original schedule, per a recent report from the city's inspector general.
Digital services contractor Fearless is the firm behind the contract, former reporting shows, but is not identified by name in the report. Fearless nabbed the contract in the winter of 2023, originally valued at $1 million for one year of work. Amendments led to the price to double and deadlines to be extended.
The Baltimore City Office of Information Technology allegedly expressed concerns about the work done by Fearless and its subcontractor — including disorganization, high turnover and 'unnecessary coding.' The Baltimore Brew reported that this subcontractor was XCell LLC, whose founder Felix Gilbert used to work for Fearless before taking his own company through the Fearless-created Hutch incubator.
Meanwhile, Fearless claims it was inundated with outdated content on the city's website, and that it was unclear who was leading the project on the government side.
Fearless' chief marketing officer Brenda Freeman did not directly comment, but pointed to a written response to the inspector general's report from the city's chief information officer Leyla Layman.
'Following the start of the contract, it became apparent, through consultation with both internal stakeholders and the contracted firm, that additional technical development services … were necessary to fully realize the goals of the website redesign,' wrote Layman. 'These critical elements fell within the scope of website redesign and called for scope expansion to later be incorporated through two formally executed contract amendments.'
'The cost was not the result of uncontrolled spending,' Layman also wrote in response to the inspector general's report, 'but rather a structured response to project demands that became clearer as implementation progressed.'
Rafael McFadden, BCIT's marketing and communications manager, noted the redesign has taken so long because of staffing transitions and improvements in cybersecurity and accessibility. He also cited 'coordination across departments' as a main issue during the contract.
Plus, the last redesign was in 2014, and more than 19,000 pages had to be converted, McFadden wrote in a statement.
'The project represents a long-overdue investment in how residents access city services online,' McFadden told 'Our priority remains delivering a secure, accessible, and user-friendly website that meets the needs of residents.'
The contract began with plans to launch the new website in August of 2023. In April of this year, the inspector general's office was notified that the site would be live by the end of the fiscal year — July 1. That has not happened, the report revealed. The site is under final review and testing, per McFadden.
Only one other company responded with proposals to the call for bids, per the report. The other vendor, identified by the Baltimore Brew as Interpersonal Frequency in McLean, estimated costs at $306,250 — a fraction of Fearless' price to date. But the inspector general's report notes that there were concerns about past work done by the lowest bidder.
Delali Dzirasa, Fearless' founder, has other ties to the city government. He donated to Mayor Brandon Scott's campaign in 2023, per the Baltimore Brew's report. He also co-chaired a group of business and civic leaders to advise on 'policy proposals and initiatives being considered by the Scott Administration to move Baltimore forward,' per a 2023 announcement.
XCell LLC's Gilbert previously told that the website redesign contract arose in part out of a roundtable with the Mayor's Office and other events trying to link the city with minority- and women-owned businesses.
'Through those events, companies like ours learned about the process and opportunities to do business with the city,' Gilbert said at the time. 'XCell is now a certified minority-owned business in the city and was able to bid on the [request for proposal] for this contract. There were requirements we couldn't meet as a small business so we brought Fearless in as a partner.'
Dzirasa's wife, Letitia Dzirasa, was appointed the city's deputy mayor of health and human services on July 2. She previously served as Baltimore's interim deputy mayor in 2023 and 2024, as well as its health commissioner from 2019 to 2023. Before then, she also worked at Fearless as the firm's health innovation officer.
