President Joe Biden issued an executive order to advance racial equity and support underserved communities.
The executive order promotes racial equity and emphasizes that advancing that ideal requires a systemic approach to embedding fairness in the decision-making process; it encourages agencies to recognize inequities in their policies and programs and work to redress them. Agencies are required to assess whether and to what extent their programs and policies perpetuate systemic barriers to opportunities and benefits for underserved communities.
The underlying emphasis here is that programs and initiatives that are meant to support, grow and allow the underserved communities to prosper are often hindered, and obstacles are created which prevent the full impact of the programs to be realized.
Too often, congressional initiatives to support underserved communities are implemented in regulations, programs, procedures and processes in such a way that all but neuter the intended outcomes. At best, under the mantra of ensuring that the benefits flow to the intended recipients, well-intentioned civil servants implement the programs in such a way to “protect” the underserved either from themselves or from would be charlatans, thus negating or totally eliminating the intended impact. At worst, maligned bureaucrats can’t stand by and witness government programs generate wealth for minorities and the underserved communities, and thereby create procedural roadblocks, hurdles and sand traps.
There are countless examples of the above, but I will provide one for illustrative purposes. Consider the intended benefits of the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program.
Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/commentary/2021/02/why-systemic-bias-exists-in-government-contracting-programs/
