Historically Underutilized Businesses: Opportunities for Growth in N.C.

Businesses owned by individuals deemed to be historically disadvantaged have faced challenges, past and present, accessing capital and navigating industry social structures. This hinders their ability to compete in the procurement market, which is the process intended to promote fair and open competition for public sector business while minimizing risk, such as exposure to fraud and collusion. Even in North Carolina regions with large proportions of non-white residents, public contracts are going to firms owned by women and/or people of color at abysmal rates.