Case Analysis; Minority Set-

Case Analysis; Minority Set-Asides

Richmond City Council adopted the Utilization Plan because they wanted to do something about their racial discrimination. The facts of the case are that the Minority Set-Asides was a program that began in Richmond Virginia to help the minority business enterprises. Government set-asides for minority business enterprises were the practice of providing minority contractors and subcontractors a certain percentage of jurisdiction’s contract dollars. A business falls under a Minority Business Enterprise “if minority group members controlled at least 51 percent of it.” The Plan required prime contractors to whom the city awarded construction contracts to subcontract at least 30 percent of the dollar amount of the contract to one or more Minority Business Enterprises. The 30 percent set-aside did not apply to city contracts awarded to minority-owned prime contractors. "Minority group members" were defined as "citizens of the United States who are Blacks, Spanish-speaking, Orientals, Indians, Eskimos, or Aleuts."  There was no limit to the Plan. An otherwise qualified MBE from anywhere in the United States could benefit itself of the 30 percent set-aside. The Plan declared that it was "remedial" in nature, and acted upon "for the purpose of promoting wider participation by minority business enterprises in the construction of public projects."

The Richmond City Council adopted the Plan after a public hearing.  Seven members of the public spoke to the merits of the ordinance: five were in opposition, two in favor. Proponents of the set-aside provision relied on a study which indicated that, while the general population of Richmond was 50 percent black, only 0.67 percent of the city's prime construction contracts had been awarded to minority businesses in the 5-year period from 1978 to 1983. It was also established that a variety of contractors' associations, whose representatives appeared in opposition to the rule, had nearly no...