Harris County commissioners took no action Aug. 6 on the county’s minority- and women-owned business contract program following a ruling from a federal judge deeming the city of Houston’s program unconstitutional.
The big picture
Run by the Harris County Department of Economic Equity and Opportunity, the program was established in November 2020 by commissioners to provide equity among women- and minority-owned businesses for county contracts.
The program aimed to have at least 30% of county contracts awarded to women- and minority-owned businesses on an annual basis after a survey found those businesses only received 9% of county contracts despite making up roughly 28% of the business market.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner said the city of Houston's program violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment following a lawsuit brought forth by a white couple in Spring, as previously reported.
The discussion
A number of business owners and community leaders said the program was vital to help small businesses gain access to larger contract opportunities when competing with more established companies.
“Data from the city of Houston's study reveals that while MWBE accounts for over 28% of city contracts, Black [business] owners capture a mere 5.5%,” said Asheli Atkins, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Black Chamber. “Without remedies like the M/WBE program, these barriers will widen. This program is not a reference; it is vital to the economic lifeline of small businesses and Houston as a whole.”
Business owners also emphasized the program did not guarantee every business owner would receive county contracts, as they were still subject to the bidding process and proving the ability to do the work needed.
“The program provides us opportunity,” said Steve Fraga, Tejas Office Products owner.
”We still have to be financially sound. We still need to run our companies like a majority-owned company.”
What’s next?
Commissioners took the item to executive session for a lengthy closed discussion after an hour of public comment regarding the program's effectiveness. However, commissioners took no action to modify or terminate the program following the ruling on the city of Houston's program.
