CalTrans Needs More APA Contractors
August 10, 2007
People use the term “diversity” too often these days as a catch-all to include every community of color. But the very principle of diversity should make us aware of and appreciate differences between communities, rather than lump all people together as minorities.
California’s Department of Transportation recently commissioned a study of 10,000 construction and engineering contracts and interviews with 18,000 businesses to investigate their own practices of diversity. The results they found were as diverse as they were surprising.
Groups that have been traditionally underrepresented still were – including firms owned by women, blacks and Native Americans, as well as most Asian Pacific American enterprises. Overall, the study estimated that 19 percent of state transportation dollars should have been doled out to minority- and women-owned firms. Only 11 percent actually were.
But those numbers don’t tell the whole story. Hispanic-owned firms showed great improvement. Some APA firms, those owned by South Asian Americans, were actually overrepresented.
The study used a disparity index, where a score of 100 constitutes parity. Indian- and Pakistani-owned contractors rated 124. Latino firms rated 81. An index below 80 is considered “substantial disparity.”
Even among those groups underrepresented, the range was huge. African Americans were the most disadvantaged, scoring only 15. Chinese- and Filipino-owned firms fared little better with a score of 31.
Instituting an across-the-board policy to hire more minority contractors would not be an improvement, particularly if the same minority contractors ended up being hired over and over, simply to fill artificial quotas.
Even worse is the knee-jerk reaction in the other direction to eliminate race-conscious decisions in awarding contracts. That response produced Proposition 209 in California, which instituted a colorblind policy that has resulted in greater and greater disparities between white and Californians of color, in everything from education to health care.
In this case, CalTrans is moving in the right direction. They are asking that a small portion of highway funds be used to address the disadvantages faced by blacks, women and certain Asian Pacific American, contractors. What is also needed is aggressive outreach to find more and new qualified contractors in these underrepresented communities.
Diversity means being aware of and understanding differences; then using that understanding to bring communities together for a fuller, stronger society.
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