What piece of the city action do black firms get? Draft of study claims they get more than their share.

African-American firms have received more than their share of City of L.A. contracts and thus may not be considered in the future for programs aimed at remedying discrimination in the city's contracting process, according to an analysis of a preliminary draft of a study commissioned by the city.

"The study reveals an overriding and disturbing pattern," according to a confidential preliminary draft of an analysis of the study conducted by downtown L.A.-based Cordoba Corp. and obtained by the Business Journal. Downtown L.A.-based Cordoba is a planning, developing and systems consultant.

According to the Cordoba analysis of its own findings, "African-Americans have enjoyed over-utilization in contracting while all other groups -- Hispanics, Asians and women -- showed at least either no disparity or under-utilization."

The study was prompted by a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case Croson vs. City of Richmond. In that case, the court ruled that, in awarding contracts for non-federally funded projects, government entities cannot use race as a criterion unless signs of previous discrimination against a particular race have been proven.

That 1989 ruling made invalid a directive issued by then-Mayor Tom Bradley in 1983 that called for opportunities to be created for women- and minority-owned businesses to receive city contracts. After the Croson decision, the directive was relaxed and less attention was paid to awarding city contracts to women and minorities.

Because of that decision, if the City of L.A. wants to implement a program to help minority and women business owners get city contracts, it first has to prove discrimination in the contracting process exists. The Cordoba firm was commissioned to study whether such discrimination does exist. And its finding that African-American firms have gotten more than their fair share of city contracts effectively would eliminate them from the program.

To conduct the study, Cordoba collected records covering Jan. 1, 1978, through June 30, 1991. However, it could only analyze the data for July 1, 1987, through June 30, 1990, because the rest of the data was in poor condition, according to the analysis.

The study also included interviews with 40 members of the city staff, 150 minority and women business representatives from Southern California, and testimony at four public hearings.

The Cordoba study showed that "African-Americans are over-utilized in contracting by the City of Los Angeles as measured by dollar share and contract share," the analysis stated.

The impact of Cordoba's conclusions "are tremendously devastating to the African-American community and far-reaching when considered in the context of the directives set out in (the) Croson (decision)," the analysis further stated. "It is reasonable to conclude that no program will be designed for the African-American community."

Local African-American business leaders said they think the study errs in contending African-American firms are over-utilized in city work.

"Everybody thinks it's a joke basically," said Robert Turner, executive director of the Black Business Association in Los Angeles. "It's so far out in left field, there's nothing to get upset about."

Gene Hale, chairman of the African-American Chamber of Commerce in L.A., added, "It's incomprehensible that anyone can say African-Americans have been overutilized in the awarding of city contracts."

"I think it (the study) is flawed in its entirety, especially in regard to the methodology used," he said.

Even Cordoba itself stated reservations about its study's results. Its own analysis concluded that it "failed to sufficiently canvass the African-American contracting community." The result, the analysis concluded, is that Cordoba's analysis of this community "was limited and incomplete, and that its conclusions are therefore lacking in credibility."

Cordoba found "one or two African-American contractors who enjoyed a relative degree of success in contracting with the City of Los Angeles, and those contractors formed a large part of the African-American population studied ..." the analysis stated.

The analysis calls for "further analysis of the African-American contracting community, and that the draft be modified consistent with the findings of this further analysis."

"The further analysis that must be conducted must include broader participation by the African-American contracting community," the analysis went on to state. Looking at other minority groups, the study did show that Asian-Americans were under-utilized in both the number of contracts and dollar share of contracts they received from the City of L.A.

"The Asian community is definitely under-utilized. A lot of people (Asians) can't get city contracts," responded William Yang, president of the Asian Business Association.

The study also showed an overall under-utilization in the awarding of contracts to women-owned businesses.

Women are getting 1 percent to 1.5 percent of all contracts, less than one-quarter of what women really should be getting, noted Barbara Frantz, president of the L.A. chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners.

For Hispanics, the study showed an under-utilization of contracts awarded based on the number of contracts awarded, yet no significant disparity in terms of the dollar share of those contracts.

Diana Roberson, executive director of the Latin Business Association in Los Angeles, replied that she thinks "disparity studies are a waste."

"The conclusions drawn are really based on a few experiences and I don't believe that agencies need to spend this money to prove minority businesses haven't been utilized to the degree they are available. It's a fact," she said.