Minority Program At WSSC In Limbo

Unresolved Issues In Md. Legislature

"Right now our hands are completely tied," says WSSC Chairman Prem P. Agarwal. (Courtesy Of Wssc. - Courtesy Of Wssc.)

A controversial minority contracting program run by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission died over the summer after the Maryland General Assembly failed to renew it, potentially depriving minority- and women-owned businesses of more than $37 million worth of contracts.

The state Senate did not act because the Montgomery and Prince George's delegations could not agree on whether to strengthen oversight of the program, which critics said was fraught with patronage and unnecessary delays.

Minority- and women-owned businesses have received more than a quarter of the contracting money spent by the commission since the program began in 1979, for such work as construction projects and finding temporary employees.

The program has been at the center of years of upheaval at the Washington area's largest water and sewer utility. There have been charges that the program benefited white-owned companies who hired minority subcontractors, and controversy over delays caused when the contracting office held up projects until minority firms could be found to participate.

The head of the office was ousted last year, and three WSSC board members were asked to resign.

Companies that benefited from the minority contracting program said it was important to them. The program was designed to make up for years in which firms owned by minorities and women were excluded from the agency's business.

"It's going to be tougher for us because we're not going to be able to get the big projects," said Lilia A. Abron, owner and president of Peer Consultants PC, a civil and environmental engineering firm in Rockville that has worked with the WSSC for several years. "It's going to be more of a challenge, but we're up for it. We've been slugging it out this long."

Abron said minority firms with less experience will be hit the hardest. Her 15 years of working with the WSSC put her firm in good standing as a subcontractor for larger, non-minority contractors. Newer firms without those past relationships will be at a significant disadvantage, she said.

Bills to reauthorize the program until 2010 passed the House of Delegates, but failed to get out of a Senate committee before the end of the legislative session in April. Gloria G. Lawlah (D), head of the Prince George's delegation in the state Senate, said she wanted stricter language in the bill to hold prime contractors responsible for paying minority subcontractors -- even if that meant the program would expire.

"You can always avoid a sunset if you want to, but it's not always meaningful," Lawlah said. "Sometimes when you have nothing, it's going to make us work harder to put something in place" in the next legislative session.

Without the backing of both delegations, the bill could not come up for a vote.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that any race- or gender-based preferences must be bolstered by evidence showing a historical pattern of discrimination. In the case of the WSSC, a 2005 study showed that disparities still exist between the number of minority contracts awarded by the agency and the number of minority businesses in the area.

"I think it's clear that these programs are still required to advance the cause of diversity and creating opportunities for minority business people overall," said Kenneth E. Clark, president of the Maryland/D.C. Minority Supplier Development Council. "They missed an opportunity to move this program forward."

Wayne R. Frazier Sr., president of the Maryland-Washington Minority Contractors Association, called the state of minority contractors "woeful," noting that few companies have the size or financial backing to compete for major construction jobs.

After learning that the minority contracting program was terminated over the summer, the WSSC board tried to install a temporary program, but Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. said this month that it would not be legal without enabling state legislation.

Prem P. Agarwal, chairman of the WSSC, said the commission is putting in an auditing system aimed at tracking the money going from prime contractors to minority subcontractors.

Agarwal said the WSSC will lobby to get the minority preferences written into law when the General Assembly meets in early 2007. In the meantime, the WSSC still has a program to help small contractors -- regardless of the race or sex of owners -- but Agarwal said many of the minority firms that have done WSSC work are too large to participate.

Any minority contracts in place before July 1 will not be affected.

"Right now our hands are completely tied, and that makes all of us unhappy," Agarwal said.