Federal Infrastructure Spending- What percentage of Federal Infrastructure Contracts are awarded to Women and Minority Contractors?
Reading Time: 5 Minutes
Federal spending is a significant portion of the (GDP) Gross Domestic Product of the United States. The GDP for the United States was $26,894.54 billion in 2023, according to macrotrends.net. The U.S. spending for 2023 was $0.9 trillion, with a large portion allocated to defense. (macrotrends.net, 2023).
Infrastructure is also a part of the national spending budget. The nation’s infrastructure consists of “roads and bridges, power and grids, broadband, water infrastructure, airports, environmental protection, ports, Western water infrastructure, electric vehicle charging stations, and electric school buses.” (Zhang et al., 2022). The U.S. Infrastructure Investment and Job Act (IIJA) was
passed in 2022 to fund infrastructure projects (Zhang et al., 2022).
The total amount of this funding act is estimated to be $1.2 trillion over 10 years. (Zhang et al., 2022). The U.S. government has instituted programs designed to ensure that Women and Minority Businesses (WMB) are awarded government construction contracts equitably. (Mendoza Lopez, 2024). “Despite longstanding policies aimed at increasing WMB participation, various factors, including bonding requirements, subcontracting programs, and payment practices tend to exclude WMBs from fully participating in government markets.” (Mendoza Lopez, 2024).
Although there have been efforts to award contracts equitably, the U.S. Federal Government spent over $650 billion on goods and services in the year 2020. (McSwigan, 2022). Minority Owned Businesses only received 9.4% of the federal contracts, while women-owned businesses received 4.9% (McSwigan, 2022).
In conclusion, there needs to be new initiatives aimed at disparity in contract awards by legislators with regards to federal spending. There should be more outreach by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to inform women and minority businesses of contract opportunities along with supporting programs.
Tip 1: To learn what it takes to develop, plan, and manage a successful construction project The new, updated and expanded edition of this bestselling text addresses the basics of how we design, develop, and construct our buildings and our communities: https://nationsproducts.com/products/construction-project-management-a-complete-introduction?_pos=1&_psq=Construction&_ss=e&_v=1.0
Tip 2: Learn Construction Project Management and Planning. Develop and understand the foundations of project planning and scheduling techniques with this Construction Management Course.
John Muhammad, President/Owner of Nation’s Builders, Host of the Business Building Blocks Podcast, Graduate Student of the University of Texas at El Paso majoring in Construction Management M.S., B.S Degree from Texas Southern University, former Site Health and Safety Specialist for the renovation of the Administration Building of the Johnson Space Center at NASA and former Superintendent for semi-custom home builder, Emerald Homes.
References
Macrotrends (2024). U.S. GNP 1962-2024. https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/USA/united-states/gnp-gross-national-product
Zhang, M., & Batjargal, T. (2022). Review on new spending of United States bipartisan infrastructure bill. Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development, 6(2), 1507. https://systems.enpress-publisher.com/index.php/jipd/article/viewFile/1507/1425
Mendoza Lopez, F. (2024). Barriers to Entry For Women-and Minority-Owned Businesses in Government Contracting. https://www.proquest.com/openview/86a897f9eaf381ebccee6fa65691f91e/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
McSwigan, C. (2022). Shut out: The dearth of opportunity for minority contracting. https://thirdway-generated-pdfs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/products/59129/Shut_Out_The_Dearth_of_Opportunity_for_Minority_Contracting.pdf