Women- and minority-owned businesses can bid on $82 million in state construction contracts as part of the $373 million final phase of the City University of New York (CUNY) Advanced Science Research Center project in Harlem.
The business opportunity was announced by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who credited his minority- and women-owned business enterprises team with removing historical barriers to participation in state contracting by minorities and women.
The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York provided tax-exempt financing for the CUNY project and has set a goal to award 22 percent of project contracts to businesses owned by minorities and women.
William Flemming, president of Skanska USA Building, construction manager for the CUNY project, said Skanska expected to exceed that goal in contract awards, “as we have on many of our projects in New York.”
Empire State Development Corp. President and CEO Kenneth Adams said in a press release that the $82 million in contracts “will help break down barriers so minority and women entrepreneurs have access to the resources they need to invest, expand and create new jobs.”
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.