CT doesn’t meet requirement for using minority-owned businesses. ‘We should be embarrassed’: lawmaker

For decades, minority-owned businesses in Connecticut have struggled to win contracts to do work for the state — despite a nearly 50-year-old program requiring that a certain percentage of state contracting funds be awarded to businesses owned by people of color, women, veterans or people with disabilities. In 2021, in response to concerns about underrepresentation of minority businesses and the alleged presence of “front businesses” taking advantage of the system, the legislature commissioned a study examining whether state contracts were being awarded fairly. Results of that study were published late last year — and they largely validated the concerns minority contractors have raised for years. But business owners say lawmakers have thus far failed to take meaningful action in response to the findings. According to the report, conducted by consultancy Griffin & Strong, about 14% of all construction firms in Connecticut are owned by Black individuals. But between 2017 and 2021, these firms received only 0.57% of state contracts valued at less than $1 million. Of the $544 million spent on these contracts in total, $91 million went to firms owned by women and minorities — or roughly 17%. The law requires that the state reserve, or “set aside,” 25%...