The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has taken a close look at Federal government contracting set-aside programs, and they don’t like what they see. The basic message from their report ( Federal Procurement after Adarand ) is pretty clear: all government contracting decisions should be race-neutral. In other words, all federal preferential contracting programs, like the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program, should be eliminated. The Commission is recommending a major policy shift, as small and disadvantaged business programs now help fund $19.5 billion in prime contracts (about 7% of all contracting dollars). The Commission’s report recommends that all federal agencies establish new race-neutral procurement programs, and expand marketing efforts so that more small business owners are made aware of new federal contracting opportunities.
The September 2005 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report, Federal Procurement after Adarand , is available at: http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/080505_fedprocadarand.pdf
This story provided by: www.publicforuminstitute.org/nde.
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