Minority-contract details cost city $146,000
Check out Mark Reutter's stories on minority contracting in Baltimore. P&J Contracting, which gave heavily to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's campaign, won a contract to stabilize a building even though its bid was $146,000 higher. The reason: Competitor Bob Andrews' bid included only 27 percent minority- and women-owned participation, not 37 percent as required by the city:
While the mayor called the matter “an unfortunate misunderstanding,” Andrews, who had never before bid on a city contract, was bitter.“This whole thing’s a joke,” he said after the meeting. “We don’t need this contract, but the people of Baltimore need to know that a lot of money is being wasted by misapplying MBE [minority business enterprise] goals.”
Here is Reutter's post on how P&J met the minority-participation rules: by hiring the owner's son.
Comments
Why do race, ethnicity, and sex need to be considered at all in deciding who gets awarded a contract? It's good to make sure contracting programs are open to all, that bidding opportunities are widely publicized beforehand, and that no one gets discriminated against because of skin color, national origin, or sex. But that means no preferences because of skin color, etc. either--whether it's labeled a "set-aside," a "quota," or a "goal," since they all end up amounting to the same thing. Such discrimination is unfair and divisive; it breeds corruption and otherwise costs the taxpayers and businesses money to award a contract to someone other than the lowest bidder; and it's almost always illegal—indeed, unconstitutional—to boot (see 42 U.S.C. section 1981 and this model brief: http://www.pacificlegal.org/page.aspx?pid=1342 ). Those who insist on engaging in such discrimination deserve to be sued, and they will lose (as indeed the City of Baltimore has in the past)>
Posted by: Roger Clegg, Ctr for Equal Opportunity | September 30, 2011 10:49 AM
Baltimore City
2000 population: 651,154
2010 population: 620,961
Pct Black: 63.74%
Pct Asian: 2.34 %
Pct Hispanic: 4.18 %
Prince George's County
2010 population: 863,420
2000 population: 801,515
Change: 61,905
Pct Black: 64.47%
Pct Asian: 4.07%
Pct Hispanic: 14.94%
Posted by: PatientPatient | September 30, 2011 10:55 AM
Every public contract in Maryland should be bid two ways. Each contractor should submit a bid without MBE/DBE/WBE requirements and prevailing wages then a second price including the ridiculous requirements and wages. Both bids should be published on the front page of the Sun so everyone can see the cost of the programs.
Since the emergence of Hispanic concrete contractors who can do the work cheaply and well the agencies now require a certain percentage of African American contractors so the Hispanics frequently get squeezed out of the work. How is this fair?
Posted by: mark56 | September 30, 2011 12:21 PM
i am sure this comment will not be posted because this is not an open forum, and ir you disagree with the author you will not receive equal representation.
while overbidding contracts should not be fair...the fact of the matter is contracts should be rewarded on 2 criteria: 1) the best business practice, and 2)the amount of representation in the municipality represented. If PG county has over 60% african american representation in population, then it should have just as much representation in the way contracts are awarded.
This is just the opinion of a white concrete and excavation contractor.
Posted by: terrance woodbury | October 1, 2011 3:36 AM
The minority contracting program in the city is a farce. Two of the bigger minority contractors operating are owned by people of portuguese heritage who are based in the DC suburbs. They win business over businesses located right here in Baltimore who employ city residents, based purely on their Portuguese heritage. Not sure there is much of a history of discrimination of Portuguese immigrants in Baltimore, but I'm fairly certain it isn't an issue today. I think businesses who employ city residents should be given preference.
Posted by: eh | October 2, 2011 9:01 PM
The fact is that those are the terms of the contract. If your bid is not based on the terms set forth in the project specifications, you aren't considered a responsive bidder. You don't get to pick and choose which terms you're going to include in your bid.
Posted by: Eric | October 3, 2011 10:20 AM