The public hospital system for Tarrant County, Texas, was hit with a federal civil rights complaint on Tuesday alleging that it discriminates in its procurement process for medical supplies. The complaint comes after the Washington Free Beacon reported last year that the hospital system, JPS Health, used a race-based scoring system to evaluate bids, in some cases giving more weight to “diversity and inclusion” than to the reputation of the vendor’s services.
At the time, JPS denied using race as a basis for awarding contracts. But the hospital system has continued to include race-based criteria in its procurement process, requiring vendors to make a “good-faith” effort to use minority subcontractors.
A contractor will automatically satisfy that requirement if it is “a Historically Underutilized, Small, Minority, Woman, or Veteran owned business.” Otherwise, it will need to certify that some of its subcontractors are minority-owned.
The complaint argues that this system, outlined in an August request for proposals document, “discriminates against whites and white-owned businesses” because they must jump through additional hoops. The complaint was filed with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by Do No Harm, a group that opposes identity politics in medicine.
“By racially and sexually discriminating against potential vendors, the health system is rejecting excellence and merit and embracing divisive identity politics,” said Do No Harm chairman Stanley Goldfarb {snip}
Minority contracting is typically associated with fields like construction and sanitization, where it has been linked to fraud, delays, and cost overruns. In recent years, the practice has also found a home in medicine.
{snip}
The post Texas Health System Hit With Civil Rights Complaint Over Minority Contracting appeared first on American Renaissance.
American Renaissance
