County to review Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program

Adrienne Packer

Thursday, Sept. 2, 1999 | 11:49 a.m.

Clark County's revamped Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program takes greater steps to encourage traditionally disadvantaged groups like women and minorities to submit bids for construction projects.

The program will be reviewed Tuesday by the Clark County Commission.

Under newly developed federal guidelines, the county no longer has to award 10 percent of its construction projects to businesses controlled by minorities.

Instead jurisdictions nationwide are required to use a formula to determine how many businesses that meet the program's criteria exist in the community and set goals for the percentage of contracts that will be awarded to disadvantaged businesses.

The federal guidelines were changed after the constitutionality of Disadvantaged Business Enterprise programs was challenged in Colorado.

"The Supreme Court decided you have to do general canvassing," said Cynthia Cicero, McCarran International Airport's liaison for the program. "It requires a lot more outreach programs and proactiveness on departments receiving funds. It rolls responsibility to the local level."

Cicero said the airport's goal is to give minority businesses 5.5 percent of the contracts for projects that use federal funds. Last year when the minimum was 10 percent, the county awarded about 12 percent of contracts to minority businesses.

The airport has been less successful with the concessionaire portion of the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program.

While federal regulations say airports must give minority-operated businesses 10 percent of the concession space. McCarran officials bumped its goal up to 20 percent but has consistently fallen short of even the 10 percent federal requirement. Last year only 7 percent of the space was leased to minorities, Cicero said.

Cicero said to qualify as a disadvantaged business, a company must be small and owned and controlled by a minority whose personal net worth is no more than $750,000.