A state auditor's review has found that the N.C. Department of Administration was not re-certifying businesses as minority-owned and women-owned, a status that gives them a better chance of winning state contracts.
A deputy director in the department's Historically Underutilized Business Office confirmed that roughly 20 businesses had lost the designation because of a computer glitch, the review said.
The review also found 60 vendors doing business with the state that qualified for HUB status but did not have it, Dan Kane reports.
Another five had the designation but shouldn't have, the review said. They had been "inactivated" by the HUB office, or had not been listed on the office's web site as HUB businesses.
More after the jump.
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The review also found that a vendor continued to get state contracts after it was dissolved by the N.C. Secretary of State for failure to file required annual reports.
"A dissolved corporation may continue its corporate existence but may not conduct business except to liquidate its business affairs," the auditor's review said. The company, which was not identified, later filed its annual report and was reinstated in April.
In a response, the department said the misclassifications represented a small percentage of vendors. The department said it was taking steps to make sure the HUB designation is appropriately applied and that staff will make sure that it is notified of any changes to the corporate status of any vendor.
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