§ 16-B — Minority and women-owned business enterprise program

§ 16-b. Minority and women-owned business enterprise program. 1. a. In\nthe performance of projects pursuant to this act minority and\nwomen-owned business enterprises shall be given the opportunity for\nmeaningful participation. The agency shall establish measures and\nprocedures to secure meaningful participation and identify those\ncontracts and items of work for which minority and women-owned business\nenterprises may best bid to actively and affirmatively promote and\nassist their participation in the projects, so as to facilitate the\naward of a fair share of contracts to such enterprises; provided,\nhowever, that nothing in this act shall be construed to limit the\nability of the agency to assure that qualified minority and women-owned\nbusiness enterprises may participate in the program. For purposes\nhereof, minority business enterprise shall mean any business enterprise\nwhich is at least fifty-one per centum owned by, or in the case of a\npublicly owned business, at least fifty-one per centum of the stock of\nwhich is owned by citizens or permanent resident noncitizens who are\nBlack, Hispanic, Asian or American Indian, Pacific Islander or Alaskan\nnatives and such ownership interest is real, substantial and continuing\nand have the authority to independently control the day to day business\ndecisions of the entity for at least one year; and women-owned business\nenterprise shall mean any business enterprise which is at least\nfifty-one per centum owned by, or in the case of a publicly owned\nbusiness, at least fifty-one per centum of the stock of which is owned\nby citizens or permanent resident noncitizens who are women, and such\nownership interest is real, substantial and continuing and have the\nauthority to independently control the day to day business decisions of\nthe entity for at least one year.\n The provisions of this paragraph shall not be construed to limit the\nability of any minority or women-owned business enterprise to bid on any\ncontract.\n b. In the implementation of this section, the agency shall consider\ncompliance by any contractor with the requirements of any federal,\nstate, or local law concerning minority and women-owned business\nenterprises, which may effectuate the requirements of this section. If\nthe department or the office determines that by virtue of the imposition\nof the requirements of any such law, in respect to contracts, the\nprovisions thereof duplicate or conflict with this act, the agency may\nwaive the applicability of this section to the extent of such\nduplication or conflict.\n c. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to require that overall\nstate and federal requirements for participation of minority and\nwomen-owned business enterprises in programs authorized under this act\nbe applied without regard to local circumstances to all projects or in\nall communities.\n 2. In order to implement the requirements and objectives of this\nsection, the agency shall establish procedures to monitor the\ncontractors' compliance with provisions hereof, provide assistance in\nobtaining competing qualified minority and women-owned business\nenterprises to perform contracts proposed to be awarded, and take other\nappropriate measures to improve the access of minority and women-owned\nbusiness enterprises to these contracts.\n