Nixon calls for new bias study
Of the St. Louis American
A Colorado company that manufactures ankle bracelet monitoring devices no longer has Missouri’s Minority/Women Business Enterprise program shackled.
A lawsuit by Behavioral Interventions of Boulder, Colo., was dismissed last week after the state and that firm reached a settlement. The state agreed to reimburse Behavioral Interventions $125,000 for attorney fees. It also agreed to continue to allow the re-bidding of the contract at the center of the dispute, but without the requirement that 30 percent of the work go to minority- or women-owned firms.
In return, Behavioral Interventions, which lost the $4.5 million parolee-monitoring contract because it failed to obtain sufficient minority or women subcontractor participation, agreed to drop its challenge to Missouri’s contracting program.
In January, U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner in Kansas City halted the awarding of any contracts through the MBE/WBE program and suspended the program, a staggering blow to many minority-owned firms in the St. Louis area.
In a 57th District legislative update hosted by state Rep. Yaphet El-Amin (D-57th), Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon said the state must now prepare for future challenges to the contracting program, adding that Gov. Matt Blunt should take the lead.
“I’m not sure that the current administration is as sensitive to the issue as it need be, but we want to work with them to protect this valuable program,” Nixon said Wednesday at Harris-Stowe State College.
“We don’t want to fight with the governor on this matter. We want to work hand-in-hand.”
Had the case gone to trial on July 5 as scheduled, Nixon said the state’s case would have been based “on the success stories in this program.”
“This is one of the most successful economic development programs that this state or the country has ever used.”
Nixon is calling on Blunt to commission a study on bias against women- and minority-owned firms as subcontractors.
“If we are going to defend ourselves, these numbers are vital,” he said.
“If the state can give millions in tax credits to save and restore buildings, it could find (about $100,000) to prove the human value of the MBE/WBE program.
“The future of Missouri depends on it.”
El-Amin said that the lawsuit and judge’s January decision demonstrated that “the minority business community was not prepared to help and assist in the fight to make sure that the program is continued. We must now make sure that all businesses in our community are protected.”
She praised Nixon and members of his staff, saying they “worked vigorously to defend all of us.”
James Webb, president of St. Louis Minority Business Council, said there would be “little or no minority business inclusion in state purchasing without the MBE/WBE program.”
“We must make sure there are no improprieties in the wording of the executive order establishing the program. This is what backed us into a corner this time. The program was labeled as a set-aside, not as one that uses goals,” Webb said.
The late Gov. Mel Carnahan signed Executive Order 98/21 in 1994 and called for an increase of minority and women business enterprise contracts of 10 percent and five percent, respectively.
He established “desired goals” of 20 and 10 percent, respectively.
Nixon said a new study of bias is needed because the numbers used when Carnahan issued the executive order establishing the current program have become dated.
Blunt is considering a new study or reworking the contracting program, said spokeswoman Jessica Robinson.
“The judge made it clear that the existing policy on minority- and women-owned business enterprises was unconstitutional, and we are working to come up with a new policy that will pass constitutional muster,” Robinson said.
Nixon said he has no idea what action the governor will take.
“He has not rescinded the program nor has he replaced it,” Nixon said. “But what he will do in the future, I cannot guess.
