Except the state mandates their use and keeps them in business. So no. They are not free market. It’s like capitalism with a noose around the neck.

Yeah exactly. Put a regular or noncompetive company in your wife's name (or give 51% to a random minority owner) and now all of a sudden they get $30m-100m contracts on these government projects, then they drag out construction and make mistakes because they aren't very good but the government is forcing us to use them. Happens on literally every government job.

What are you talking about? I am not saying that at all, it should all be competitive. Right now I see 20-30% of projects budgets I work on get grifted out of existence to some rich MBE owner who never turns up to the jobsite and is completely incompetent. The only reason they exist is to live off the grift of the bureaucracy that forces everyone to use them.

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I have friends applying to JFK opening MWBEs and getting hired as consultants for triple their normal salary because the agencies need a way to spend $6 billion of the $18 Billion total budget on "Minority" enterprises. Workers get "borrowed" from one parent company to MBEs as a way to divert money and skim an extra 20%. It is ridiculous. MWBEs are 99% GRIFT.

Each of those stations were probably bid separately and went to different Sub-contractors. Could the city have gone to just one Sub? Yes. But there are multiple factors that could stop that from happening. MBWE requirements or bonding and insurance requirements that are based on the value of your work vs the worth of the company.

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Could the city have used one manufacturer and saved 5-10%? maybe; but these other regulations for minority/women/small businesses would need to go away.

There are union and Osha regulations that need to be followed depending on weights of materials.

If there is a construction task that day and it cannot be lifted with a piece of equipment I must staff a job so that the max weight lifted is less than 80lbs/ea. If there is equipment I am able to halve the number of men; but sometimes I still need manpower If I am handling something that is 2,000 pounds for 10 minutes at 6AM and the rest of the day the guys are sweeping. The guys are getting paid for the day regardless if they are there for 2.5 hrs or all 8. Sometimes there is nothing for them to do and they do busy work. Unless you want to deregulate OSHA there isn't a ton to be done.

It is not free market when you have MWBE requirements on every job and have to hire incompetent people to "run" money through in order to meet your % requirements.

Look at JFK, the state wants 30% MWBE. Each of those businesses are a racket with no competition and drives up the overall price of construction.