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Contractor audit gears up Disadvantaged certification is focus of Casey inquiry Tuesday, June 20, 2000 By John M.R. Bull, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Correspondent
HARRISBURG -- State Auditor General Robert P. Casey Jr. is completing a performance audit of procedures used by the state Department of General Services in certifying minority- and women-owned businesses.
The agency's certification is supposed to ensure that disadvantaged businesses are legitimate and have the ability to perform the work they contract to do. Many jurisdictions ask contractors to make good-faith efforts to award a percentage of their contracts to minority- and women-owned businesses.
Two weeks ago, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that federal agencies were investigating whether contractors working on PNC Park, the new Steelers stadium and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center violated the law by using sham companies to meet set-aside goals aimed at giving minority and women-owned businesses an opportunity to work on the projects. The Sports & Exhibition Authority, a joint agency of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, oversees these projects and relies on five other jurisdictions, including the Department of General Services, to certify disadvantaged businesses.
In a subsequent two-part series, the Post-Gazette reported that at least a third of the $117 million in contracts that went to minority and women-owned businesses for the stadiums and convention center through March was passed through to firms owned and managed by white men or to companies that no longer qualified as disadvantaged under certification rules.
Casey's audit began in February and investigators completed their research last week. The data now will be reviewed, conclusions drawn and the General Services department contacted for input.
The probe had nothing to do with the sports authority, stressed Karen Walsh, a Casey spokeswoman.
"No state money has even gone to that stadium authority yet," she noted.
Yet the Post-Gazette series included an interview with Cheryl Williams of Swissvale, a former employment opportunity specialist with General Services. She claimed she lost her job after complaining to superiors that there were few checks and balances in the certification process to ensure that women- and minority-owned businesses were legitimate.
Walsh said that auditors were trying to determine if the department's certification of firms is impartial and fair, and if the program is monitored. They also seek to determine its overall effectiveness in helping these firms obtain business, and whether sanctions are levied against companies caught violating the certification requirements.
"We're several months away from anything final," Walsh said.
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