With the current freak show characters running the commonwealth, one should expect anything. Here's an example of just how goofy things are getting. What’s next? Maybe I don’t want to know. Pennsylvania will be requiring vendors to utilize 26% “participation” of minority businesses in many cases. On the surface it sounds like a nice thing to do.
Minority participation has been a part of doing business in Pennsylvania as long as I remember, but it has done very little to improve the viability of the minority businesses. The first time I heard of minority business participation was in the mid-70’s. I was in an office with a purchasing agent and another man stepped into the office, handed him an order, and informed the agent that he should “make this order chocolate”. When I asked what that was all about, I was told that it meant the order for that material needed to be placed through a supplier who was an approved minority business to satisfy a PA contract minority requirement. That minority business never touched the material. He had no employees to benefit from the order, and was party to a joint check agreement because he couldn’t be trusted. One guy got paid for simply being a minority. How do minority businesses become “approved” by PA?
In 1981 I was finishing a construction project on a large site while a minority contractor was beginning a new building in another area. They asked if we’d be interested in working for them as a subcontractor, so I met with their project manager. When I asked about the minority classification of the firm, he pointed out a black man walking around the project. Essentially, that guy was the “owner” and was given a hardhat and tape measure and told to walk around the project and not get in the way. Maybe not the intent of the law?
Nearly all the minority businesses I’ve seen involved in construction projects have either failed to perform, gone bankrupt, couldn’t get the required bonding or had some other difficulty that caused problems to those who hired them on.
Now the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will be mandating a 26% “participation” of Small Diverse Businesses. That list on the Department of General Services reads:
“disadvantaged business status (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, veteran, disabled, and LGBT) of ownership.”
Helping people is a noble idea. Giving veterans a hand and making reasonable accommodations for handicapped people is only right. It is a complete mystery to me how the other groups made the list. They must have some effective connections. With misguided legislation we will be helping a few individuals who are clever enough to work the system.
It’s time for someone to hit the RESET button and start over. Lowering the bar for people is what got us into the situation in which we find ourselves. The desire to make them winners without improving their lot continues to produce losers. Efforts should be made to educate and train people so they can be brought on board as true participants. We’ve been forced to put people into positions they are not qualified to fill for over 50 years and it has not worked.
https://www.dgs.pa.gov/Small Divers...cuments/Taking Action Against Disparities.pdf
https://www.dgs.pa.gov/Small Divers...erse-Business-Verification/Pages/default.aspx
Minority participation has been a part of doing business in Pennsylvania as long as I remember, but it has done very little to improve the viability of the minority businesses. The first time I heard of minority business participation was in the mid-70’s. I was in an office with a purchasing agent and another man stepped into the office, handed him an order, and informed the agent that he should “make this order chocolate”. When I asked what that was all about, I was told that it meant the order for that material needed to be placed through a supplier who was an approved minority business to satisfy a PA contract minority requirement. That minority business never touched the material. He had no employees to benefit from the order, and was party to a joint check agreement because he couldn’t be trusted. One guy got paid for simply being a minority. How do minority businesses become “approved” by PA?
In 1981 I was finishing a construction project on a large site while a minority contractor was beginning a new building in another area. They asked if we’d be interested in working for them as a subcontractor, so I met with their project manager. When I asked about the minority classification of the firm, he pointed out a black man walking around the project. Essentially, that guy was the “owner” and was given a hardhat and tape measure and told to walk around the project and not get in the way. Maybe not the intent of the law?
Nearly all the minority businesses I’ve seen involved in construction projects have either failed to perform, gone bankrupt, couldn’t get the required bonding or had some other difficulty that caused problems to those who hired them on.
Now the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will be mandating a 26% “participation” of Small Diverse Businesses. That list on the Department of General Services reads:
“disadvantaged business status (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, veteran, disabled, and LGBT) of ownership.”
Helping people is a noble idea. Giving veterans a hand and making reasonable accommodations for handicapped people is only right. It is a complete mystery to me how the other groups made the list. They must have some effective connections. With misguided legislation we will be helping a few individuals who are clever enough to work the system.
It’s time for someone to hit the RESET button and start over. Lowering the bar for people is what got us into the situation in which we find ourselves. The desire to make them winners without improving their lot continues to produce losers. Efforts should be made to educate and train people so they can be brought on board as true participants. We’ve been forced to put people into positions they are not qualified to fill for over 50 years and it has not worked.
https://www.dgs.pa.gov/Small Divers...cuments/Taking Action Against Disparities.pdf
https://www.dgs.pa.gov/Small Divers...erse-Business-Verification/Pages/default.aspx
