The MTA is calling on the feds to open up availability of government contracts to more millionaires as a means of growing its pool of minority-and-women-owned business enterprise (MWBE) vendors.
MTA contractors certified under the MWBE program must be women and/or a member of a recognized racial or ethnic minority group, but firm principals also cannot have a personal net worth of more than $15 million per authority procurement rules.
That cap was raised in recent years up from $3 million, but the issue becomes thornier for the sprawling transit agency because of the feds’ much lower personal net worth cap of a measly $1.32 million, given the intricate song-and-dance played by the different levels of government.