in just a giant display of corruption and waste... the government does this thing where they want minority businesses involved in their projects.
sounds like a good idea on the surface, but how it normally works is say our portion of work is $500k. For the GC to get minority participation on our 500k worth of work, we'll bid to a minority contractor, who is basically just a paper pusher. they'll turn around and charge the GC 550k. They'll take 50k for giving the project "minority participation", the bills will go through them, but ultimately we'll do all of the work, be responsible for the project, etc.
basically it's a way to pay minorities for um, being there. i don't blame the people who do it at all either, it's an awesome gig. we work with a lot of "intermediaries" who have no idea what the fuck is going on, they just get their check in the mail.
so dumb. so completely dumb. any project with minority participation attached to it is going to be overpriced and benefit a few people for being women, or native americans, or sometimes black people. i can't remember ever working with a veteran even though i'm positive that happens too.