New Hampshire legislation to consider Open Source (adding a cross post to dlslug)

[Jim Kuzdrall]

On Wednesday 25 January 2006 03:23 pm, Fred wrote:
> On Tuesday 10 January 2006 10:39, Richard Soule wrote:
> ...
>
> > Some things that can help: Be a HUB (Historically Underutilized
> > Business, usually women or minority owned with bonus points for
> > being both),
>
> I might have thought this would come up due to this being the
> government we're dealing with.
>
> Personally, I consider it condescending to land a contract on the
> basis of being a "minority" or "woman".

    I agree, but you cannot get out of it!  At least that was my 
experience in 1992.

    The Federal Acquisition Regulations state "If you have or have 
reason to suspect you have ancestors in one of the following groups < 
names about 50, including American Indian and French Canadian > check 
the square below."

    The regulations eventually go on to say how long you must spend in 
jail and how much you will be fined for not answering all questions  
truthfully.

    With the checked box you are irrevocably a "disadvantaged minority".  
To not check the box would be submitting false information.  I asked 
the contracting agency how to get out of it, but they said there was no 
way, it was my right - besides they had a minority contract set-aside 
to meet.

    Not trusting their self interest, I contacted the NH Small Business 
Administration.  Upon explaining no more than my one-man company and my 
full-blood Indian great-grandmother, there was an immediate "Yes, you 
are certainly a disadvantaged minority".

    I protested that I did not meet the "disadvantaged" criterion.  She 
asked, "Can you walk into a bank and get a $5 million loan?"  "Well, 
no," I admitted. "Well, then you are disadvantaged."

    So, the bureaucrats have expanded the category until it became 
meaningless - with a wink from Congress, I might guess.  Some contract 
officers use the expansion to avoid choosing minorities they don't 
like.  More often though, in my experience, it allows them to assure 
that the set-aside goes to companies that will provide a good value for 
the taxpayer - putting qualifications ahead of ethnicity or race.

Jim Kuzdrall