PMID- 19306596
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20090428
LR  - 20181201
IS  - 1937-1918 (Print)
IS  - 1937-190X (Linking)
VI  - 23
IP  - 2-3
DP  - 2007
TI  - Minority business bidding for local government contracts: the complexity of 
      availability.
PG  - 247-62
LID - 10.1080/19371910802152109 [doi]
AB  - While minority-business enterprises (MBEs) have gained some access to local 
      government contracts during the last three decades, these firms continue to 
      receive a small share of local government contract spending relative to the 
      number of available firms. Researchers have suggested two general explanations 
      for the low representation of MBEs in contract awards: (1) lack of qualifications 
      and capacity among MBEs, and (2) public and private discrimination against MBEs 
      in contracting processes. This study on prime contract opportunities in a 
      Northern central city and county with a large minority population finds that low 
      bid rates greatly contribute to the low MBE shares of prime contracts and that 
      bidding is reduced by both local government processes and characteristics of the 
      firms. Some implications of these findings are that local governments need to: 
      (1) monitor MBE shares of prime contract bids by size of contract and use share 
      of bids as one measure of program and organizational effectiveness; (2) identify 
      MBEs that are qualified for prime contracts and encourage and help interested 
      firms to submit competitive bids; and (3) ensure that local government policies 
      and practices do not diminish access to information about prime contract 
      opportunities for qualified and interested minority firms. Another implication is 
      that bidders lists should not be a primary basis for determining MBE 
      availability, since many qualified and interested MBEs do not bid because of 
      perceived barriers in local government.
FAU - Bangs, Ralph L
AU  - Bangs RL
AD  - Center on Race and Social Problems, University of Pittsburgh, USA.
FAU - Murrell, Audrey
AU  - Murrell A
FAU - Constance-Huggins, Monique
AU  - Constance-Huggins M
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PL  - United States
TA  - Soc Work Public Health
JT  - Social work in public health
JID - 101308228
MH  - *Commerce
MH  - *Competitive Bidding/economics/statistics & numerical data
MH  - Data Collection
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Local Government
MH  - *Minority Groups
MH  - Prejudice
MH  - United States
EDAT- 2007/01/01 00:00
MHDA- 2009/04/29 09:00
CRDT- 2009/03/25 09:00
PHST- 2009/03/25 09:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2007/01/01 00:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2009/04/29 09:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1080/19371910802152109 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Soc Work Public Health. 2007;23(2-3):247-62. doi: 10.1080/19371910802152109.