County will seek

small business,

minorities for projects
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

Watauga County, in accordance with a change in state statutes, is revising its plan to solicit more minorities and small-business owners for its capital projects.

The county has an existing policy dating back to 1989 and has a goal of 3 percent of all building construction contracts going to businesses owned or operated by minorities.

The new policy will make it easier to comply with state standards and also broaden the avenues in which companies can find out about and bid on county projects.

The state has a system in place that tracks contracts awarded to HUB businesses.

The Office of Historically Underutilized Businesses serves as an advocate agency for minority, female and disabled business owners and attempts to expand the public bidding process to allow such businesses to compete for contracts.

Qualifying businesses must be majority-owned by minorities, women or the disabled and is also a resource for such businesses to learn about upcoming projects.

According to assistant county manager Deron Geoque, the revised policy will make it easier to meet mandated policies in contracts awarded for the new high school, which is under construction in eastern Boone and is expected to cost up to $70 million.

Geoque said the county had the 3-percent HUB goal in its existing policy but actual contract awards to HUBs were probably less than that.

Contractors typically bid from the northwestern North Carolina region, though for larger county projects bids often come from companies based in Charlotte or Raleigh.

Under the revised policy, the county will advertise its bid projects on both state and county Web sites.

The change in statute requires each city, county or local public entity to adopt an outreach plan. State statute requires a bidding process for any public project that exceeds $300,000.

The proposed policy reads, “It is the intent of these guidelines that Watauga County, as awarding authority for building construction or repair projects, and the contractors and subcontractors performing the construction contracts awarded shall cooperate and in good faith do all things legal, proper and reasonable to achieve the goal of 3 percent for participation by minority businesses in each building construction or repair project as required by [state statute].

“Nothing in these guidelines shall be construed to require contractors or awarding authorities to award contracts or subcontracts to or to make purchases of materials or equipment from minority-business contractors or minority-business subcontractors who do not submit the lowest responsible, responsive bid or bids.”

The policy is especially challenging because only 3.5 percent of Watauga County residents considered themselves non-white in the 2000 U.S. Census, with blacks and Hispanics about evenly divided in their racial identification among non-whites and Asians and Native Americans also making up measurable percentages.

Under the proposal, the county will work with economic development entities like Caldwell Community Collge & Technical Institute and the Small Business Development Center, encourage contractors to receive bids from minority-owned businesses and expand local business relationships.

The county will also maintain a database of minority-owned businesses and advertise upcoming bids in media that targets minority audiences.

A hearing on the policy change will be held during the next regular county commission meeting on March 3 at 9 a.m.