BALTIMORE — Gov. Wes Moore’s administration has hired one of the world’s largest consulting and technology firms to help prepare for the cascading effects President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration could have on the state.

The short-term contract with Accenture — which did not go through the state’s typical procurement process and will cost $190,000 — aims to examine how Trump’s platform and campaign proposals might impact all kinds of programs and funding. It will offer risk assessments with options for how the state could respond, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by The Baltimore Sun.

Much is at stake for Maryland under the new administration, from major infrastructure projects to the state’s sizable federal workforce. The consultants are charged with analyzing how Trump, his supporters and the incoming Republican majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate could make their mark.

The type of work described in the agreement is similar to what Moore said his administration has already been doing internally since February.

Three days after the Nov. 5 election, the Democrat said his team had “worked tirelessly for months analyzing how any scenario plan might impact our state.” He said they had “run … and pressure-tested countless scenarios based on the policy changes that might happen in Washington, D.C.,” though he refrained from specifics. A document presented to Maryland General Assembly leaders and other officials was not made publicly available.

Moore did not say at the time that the work would continue with consultants hired outside of government, but state officials signed the agreement with Accenture the day before his remarks at the State House. His office did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

The extra assistance appears to be designed for a more robust analysis from a global firm that describes itself as employing more than 774,000 people in more than 120 countries.

Described as an “independent, structured, and research-based approach” in the agreement, it will include “reviewing and building upon existing scenario planning work” the governor’s office already did.

Its three broad areas of focus are “priority identification and research,” “risk management and scenario planning,” and “program management support.”

The first category includes tracking Trump’s and congressional Republicans’ agendas. It also mentions “supportive third-party organization policy recommendations” in a year when the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 was a major concern for Democrats and the public, to the point that Trump and others distanced themselves from its agenda.

“A key outcome of this work will be to understand the potential impact of changes to federal policies, funding, and programs on the Moore administration’s priorities, and identifying potential Executive Branch appointees in key agencies and Congressional staff on relevant committees,” the agreement states.

The agreement did not go through the regular state contracting process, which typically features the governor and two other members of the Board of Public Works publicly vetting and approving contracts about every two weeks.

Instead, it was set up as an addendum to an existing contract between Accenture and the University of Virginia — one that allowed any other state, city, county or higher education institution in the country to join.

With a quick, two-month turnaround before the next session of Congress and Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, the goal was a speedy process that “will ensure expeditious transparency to the citizens of Maryland,” according to the agreement.

It was not immediately clear which other states or local governments, if any, were also participating in the same “intergovernmental cooperation agreement.”

The original contract, available publicly through the University of Virginia, began in 2020 and was set up to provide general support services for the university’s departments. It does not mention strategizing around federal policy or presidential transitions.

Democrats in Maryland are bracing for potentially widespread impacts of the new Trump administration.

They think major federally backed projects are at risk: the Red Line light rail project in Baltimore, which does not yet have dedicated construction funds, and the FBI Headquarters, which is planned to relocate to Greenbelt, Prince George’s County, but is also still in the planning phase.

Significant cuts to federal jobs or contractors would also have an outsized effect on the state. More than 150,000 federal workers in Maryland make up a larger share of the state workforce than other states and federal contracts add up to billions of dollars spent in the state every year.

About a third of the state budget, which is already facing a severe $2.7 billion deficit in the next fiscal year, is made up of revenue from the federal government, adding further uncertainty to how Moore and state lawmakers will fund their priorities.

“Maryland’s economy, workforce, and state revenue base are deeply intertwined with the federal government, and presidential elections can have a major impact on our state’s families and businesses,” Comptroller Brooke Lierman, a Democrat, said in a statement last week.

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