ASSEMBLY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND WOMEN'S AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
ASSEMBLY, No. 4586
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: MAY 5, 2025
The Assembly Community Development and Women’s Affairs Committee reports favorably an Assembly Committee Substitute for Assembly Bill No 4586.
This Assembly Committee Substitute establishes the “Minority and Women-Owned Businesses State Contractor Remedies Act,” amends the “Set-Aside Act for Small Businesses, Female Businesses, and Minority Businesses,” and repeals various sections of the statutory law.
The “Minority and Women-Owned Businesses State Contractor Remedies Act” establishes a new process for determining preference in awarding State agency and State contracting unit contracts. State agencies and State contracting units are required to develop a plan for the fiscal year following the effective date of the substitute, and each fiscal year thereafter, to encourage minority businesses and nonminority women-owned businesses to submit proposals and encourage the awarding of contracts to those businesses.
The committee substitute establishes minimum contract utilization goals for all State agencies and State contracting units based on the New Jersey Disparity Study on the Availability and Utilization of Small, Minority, Women, and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses, which was published in January of 2024. Each State agency and State contracting unit is required to implement appropriate adjustments determined by subsequent statistical analyses of the disparities between the availability and utilization of contracts held by minority businesses and nonminority women-owned businesses. In an effort to achieve the goals, the agency or contracting unit may establish bid criteria for contracts that result in a preference being afforded to minority businesses and nonminority women-owned businesses.
State agencies and State contracting units are required to make a good faith effort to attain the goals set forth in the substitute. If the agency or contracting unit fails to make a good faith effort, a remedial action plan will be submitted to the Chief Supplier Development Officer of the Office of Supplier Development and Business Opportunities. If it is determined by the chief that the agency or contracting unit did not act in good faith to implement the remedial action plan within one year, the chief may make the remedial action plan public to encourage implementation, and order further remedial measures. If implementation still does not occur, the chief may require that some or all of the agency’s or contracting unit’s procurement be placed under the direction and control of another agency. Prime contractors are also required to make a good faith effort to attain the subcontractor goals set forth in the substitute. Failure by a prime contractor to demonstrate a good faith effort may result in the rejection of bids made by the prime contractor.
The substitute shifts chief, office, and departmental duties from the Chief of the Office of Small Business Assistance, the Office of Small Business Assistance, and the Department of Commerce and Economic Development to the Chief Supplier Development Officer, the Office of Supplier Development and Business Opportunities, and the Department of the Treasury.
The substitute also amends the “Set-Aside Act for Small Businesses, Female Businesses, and Minority Businesses” to only be applicable to small businesses by removing mentions of female and minority-owned businesses. The substitute changes the set-aside goal for small businesses from 15 percent to 25 percent, and removes goals for minority and women-owned businesses.
The substitute repeals the law establishing compliance calculations for contracting agencies awarding contracts to minority or women-owned businesses, P.L.1995, c.39 (C.52:32-22.1), and repeals the law establishing the goal of giving due consideration to veteran-owned businesses and the requirement that strategies be identified to expand the number of veteran-owned businesses interested in and eligible to benefit from State procurement, P.L.2011, c.147 (C.52:32-52).