Study: White Males Get Most State Contracts Commission Says State Fails To Meet Affirmative Action Goals

Giving businesses owned by women or minorities a shot at bidding on state contracts does not place others at a disadvantage, according to a report on the impact of such affirmative-action programs.

And most state agencies are not meeting goals for sending business to minority firms, said the report released Wednesday by the state Commission on African American Affairs.

More than 91 percent of the money awarded in state contracts in 1994, the most recent year data was available, went to businesses owned by white males, the report found.

White-female-owned businesses got slightly more than 4 percent of the contracts, and black-owned businesses won just over 1 percent.

State law sets a series of affirmative-action spending goals. The idea is that about 5 percent of state business should go to white-female-owned businesses and more than 9 percent to minority-owned businesses. The goals are flexible, and do not have the power of mandatory quotas or set-asides.

“While the affirmative-action debate was founded on rhetoric and innuendo, we have injected the facts,” said James Kelly, director of the commission. “The state has … done nothing to disadvantage whites.”

Kelly analyzed state spending from 1992 through 1994 on outside contractors, which includes construction, procurement of goods and services and general consulting.

The commission’s report is the third in a series that began after some state lawmakers, contending that white males were victims of reverse discrimination, attempted to eliminate affirmative-action policies.