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Report: One Florida work not finished By Michael Peltier Tallahassee correspondent
"It's politically risky," University of South Florida political researcher Susan McManus said in the days following Bush's unveiling of One Florida Initiative. "It's either going to work or it isn't and it will be very easy to tell." One Florida sparked a firestorm of protest, including a march on the capital by more than 10,000 opponents. However flawed, affirmative action was needed to protect against the type of institutional racism that dogged students of color and minority contractors competing against better connected white-owned firms for a piece of the government pie, critics argued. Well, initial reports on the contracting aspect came out in mid-June and it appears Bush's plan has paid dividends. "The commission finds that the state is doing a better job at tracking spending with minority vendors and has effectively conveyed to its purchasing agents the desire to increase spending with minority vendors," the commission wrote summarizing its findings. "The state has also boosted its anti-discrimination efforts, started a loan mobilization program for minority vendors and generally created a climate of greater friendliness toward minority businesses." Created in November 1999, the One Florida plan prohibits set aside programs and price preferences in purchases from agencies reporting directly to the governor. The plan called for streamlining the minority business certification system and holding purchasing agents more accountable to actively seek out and award minority contracts. In place of percentages, the plan called for more active advertising and recruiting of minority-owned firms. Other state agencies have the option to use the same voluntary incentives, but most have not done so, according to the report. The results are still impressive. Purchases from certified minority businesses have leapt from $263 million in 1999 to $549 million last year, according to commission findings. That's a doubling of minority business contracts and does not include purchases from minority-owned companies that did not officially register as such. Agencies reporting to the governor made up the bulk of new purchases, increasing their minority spending by 160 percent. Nonparticipating agencies saw their minority purchases rise by 40 percent. The commission, however, had a number of suggestions to make the program even more successful. Included in its laundry list. the oversight board recommended:
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