The North Texas Tollway Authority spent $1 billion on construction and other contracts between 2002 and 2007, and according to a Dallas News report, just about all of that went to firms owned by white men.
Firms owned by minorities or women were nearly shut out of contracts from small jobs of less than $50,000 to large engineering projects.
NTTA paid $992 million to prime contractors between 2002 and 2007. Those firms hired thousands of smaller subcontractors for specific tasks. Of that money, about 3 percent went to firms owned by minorities or women.
Of construction contracts worth less than $500,000 just 1.93 percent of the money NTTA spent went to firms led by blacks.
According to the Dallas News report, such percentages are unusually low because public agencies usually work with minority firms to broaden the pool of qualified companies, and they encourage large general contractors to use minority firms as subcontractors.
NTTA executive director Allen Clemson said NTTA hired a minority outreach manager who reports directly to him within the last year.
For the complete story, see the Dallas News article.
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