Summary: The proposed Minority Enterprise Act of 1977, H.R. 567, would expand assistance to minority small business concerns, provide statutory standards for contracting and subcontracting with respect to such concerns, and create a commission on Federal Assistance to Minority Enterprise. Small business concerns owned by the named minority group members would automatically be eligible for the benefits conferred by the bill, whether or not actual social or economic disadvantage could be shown to exist. Since the intent of the bill is to assist those who are unable to compete effectively without special financial assistance, minority group members should be eliminated as a separate eligibility category. A review of the Department of Defense (DOD) Minority Business Enterprise Program indicated that prime contractor's programs to award subcontracts to minority enterprises were not as effective as they might be and that more than one-third of the largest DOD contractors are not required to participate in the program. Either the discretion allowed to contracting officers with respect to the insertion of the Minority Business Enterprise Subcontracting Clause should be eliminated from the proposed legislation or contracting officers should be required to document the record whenever the clause is not to be included.
