CITY CONTRACT BIAS
By FRANKIE EDOZIEN, NY POST, January 26, 2005

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January 26, 2005 -- Minorities and women are being shut out of billions of dollars in city contracts, a new City Council report charges.
The study, conducted for the council by Medgar Evers College and Mason Tillman Associates, found that minority- and women-owned businesses received about $1.1 billion of $4.6 billion worth of contracts from 1998 to 2002. The figures represent contracts valued at less than $1 million.

Of the city's entire $18.8 billion in contracts, minority and women-owned businesses accounted for $2.2 billion.

The extensive report analyzed 136,915 prime contracts and 5,274 subcontracts during the last four years of the Giuliani administration and the first six months of the Bloomberg administration.

"I'd like to say that the info is new and surprising, but it isn't," said Council Speaker Gifford Miller.

"Many of the numbers that were found in this report are stunning, extremely disappointing, shocking and unacceptable," added Miller (D-Manhattan), who is running for mayor.

A spokesman for Bloomberg said the administration has boosted efforts to increase contracts for minority- and women-owned firms, and is "exploring ways and adopting new measures that will ensure that all New Yorkers have the opportunities they seek."



The study found that:

* Black-owned firms constitute 16.7 percent of construction firms, but were awarded only 1.7 percent of city contracts.

* White men own 43.1 percent of construction firms available, but were awarded 71.5 percent of the contracts.

* Women-owned businesses represent 21.5 percent of architecture and engineering firms, but were awarded 3.2 percent of contracts.