City Contracts and M/WBEs

A previous post, presented a United States Commission on Civil Rights report entitled, "Barriers Facing Minority- and Woman-Owned Businesses in Pennsylvania". Charlie Deitch wrote a piece in the CP this week on a new pitch to increase M/WBE contracting regarding all of the casinarena construction:

Phil Petite, manager of the city's Equal Opportunity Review Commission, came to Pittsburgh City Council June 20 looking for authorization to implement a "sheltered markets" program. The program takes large contracts that would normally be won by large contractors -- most of which are not owned by women and minorities -- and breaks them down into smaller contracts that minority-owned firms can manage.

In addition to the hundreds of millions in contracts available to registered M/WBEs, perhaps Mr. Petite wants to apply this to non-bonanza contracts, like with Pittsburgh Public Schools.